Alessandro Pingitore works as a scientist at the Institute of Clinical Physiology (National Research Council), Pisa, Italy. His main research fields are the assessment of cardiac function and morphology by means of non-invasive cardiac imaging, the relationship between thyroid hormone and the heart, and the physiological response to strenuous physical stress in normal and extreme environments. He is responsible for the AVATAR project, an Italian multicenter study for the promotion and evaluation of health and wellbeing among healthy adolescents. He is the author of 138 articles published in international peer-reviewed journals, 2 books, and 10 book chapters.
Francesca Mastorci graduated with a degree in Biology and Biomedical Science, subsequently receiving her PhD in Systemic Physiopathology for a study of the physiological and psychological effects of exposure to stressors in experimental animal models and humans. Her chief research interest is in psychophysiologicalstress response and its countermeasures using standardized protocols, including the analysis of high density EEG in humans, autonomic, endocrine and metabolic measurements, and the study of nonverbal behaviors in different stages of life, with a particular focus on adolescence through the AVATAR project. She is the author of 25 articles published in international peer-reviewed journals.
Cristina Vassalle currently serves at the “G. Monasterio Foundation CNR-Regione Toscana” center in Pisa, Italy. She is a Member of the Società Italiana Biochimica Clinica e Biologia Molecolare Working Group on “Biochimica clinica e metabolismo osseo e muscolare”. Her main research interest is in cardiovascular and bone biology, with a particular emphasis on studying biomarkers of risk. She has considerable expertise in the field of Clinical Laboratory Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Cardiovascular and Bone Physiopathology. She has published more than 100 between papers in internationalpeer-reviewed journals and contributes in monographs and books.