C U R R I C U L U M V I T A E Rossella FONTANA Address Via Matteucci 5, 56124 Pisa Telephone M: +39 320 7250418 H: +39 0922 957750 E-mail ross.fontana@gmail.com, r.fontana@sssup.it Citizenship Italian Date of Birth 01.07.1986 Work experience Nov 12 present PhD Student The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant Anna Pontedera, Italy Current Responsibilities: Development of a Central Control Unit in order to monitor and control in closed-loop an implantable and refillable Artificial Pancreas. Research activity on the development of an Artificial Bladder and Sphincter. Past Responsibilities: Research activity within the framework of the EU project SUPCAM (www.supcam.eu). Implementation of Bluetooth communication protocol in VHDL code in order to transmit images from an innovative and embedded endoscopic capsule towards a host pc. Drawing of the Printed Circuit Boards by using EAGLE CAD software, for an embedded endoscopic capsule. Project management and research activity within the framework of the EU project SensorART (www.sensorart.eu). Development of a wearable and portable device, based on FPGA, for enabling adaptive control and remote monitoring of sensorized left ventricular assist devices (LVADs or VADs). Development of a user control unit in order to visualize in real-time VADs parameters and set VADs speed. Algorithms and functionalities implemented in VHDL. Oct 11 Nov 12 Research Assistant The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant Anna Pontedera, Italy Main Responsibilities: Project management and research activity within the framework of the EU project SensorART (www.sensorart.eu). The study and development of an autoregulation unit for controlling a LVAD. Development of a Human Machine Interface (HMI) in order to record and visualize physiological signals measured by implantable sensors and control VAD. Page 1 - Curriculum vitae - Rossella FONTANA
Work experience May 11 Oct 11 Junior business analyst - Internship - W.I.N. Wireless Integrated Network Srl, Navacchio, Italy Main Responsibilities: Working directly with the team responsible for the CE 93/42 marking process of the WINPack, a wireless biomedical device for the monitoring of physiological parameters. The device was CE marked in October 11 (www.winmedical.com. Referent: COO Emmanuele Angione). The development of pre-clinical and clinical trials with subsequent processing of physiological signals detected by the device and its gold standard. Dec 09 Dec 10 Part-time Admin University of Pisa, Faculty of Engineering Pisa, Italy Main Responsibilities: Tutoring activities including welcome reception, university orientation and counseling for high school students. Supporting activities for the administrative office workers. Page 2 - Curriculum vitae - Rossella FONTANA
Education Dec 08 May 11 Master s Degree University of Pisa, Biomedical Engineering Pisa, Italy Mark 110/110 Principal subjects covered: Biomedical signals and images processing, Biomedical digital and analog electronics, Bio-electronics measurements, Laboratory design of biomedical devices, Bioinformatics: managing and analyzing biological data and software tools for computational biology. Thesis title: 'Nonlinear Analysis of peripheral signals for the evaluation of Autonomic Nervous System in conditions of high physical stress.' The work involved the discrimination of the state of autonomic arousal between two sessions (pre-race at rest and under stress after the race) using sophisticated techniques of nonlinear analysis of four physiological signals (electrocardiogram, respiration, finger and glabella photoplethysmography) measured on ironman subjects. It also verified the presence of a common variation of the four signals, of the frequency component at 0.15Hz. Sept 05 Dec 08 Bachelor Degree University of Pisa, Biomedical Engineering Pisa, Italy Mark 103/110 Principal subjects covered: Biomedical signal analysis, Study of bioelectrics phenomena, Digital and analog electronics, Mechanical, Design and operation of biosensors and bioinstrumentation, Management of health technologies and Medical informatics. Thesis Title: 'Recognition of emotional states by means of multi-parametric analysis of physiological signals.' The work involved the acquisition and analysis of four physiological signals (electrocardiogram, electro-dermal activity, respiration and temperature variation) for the detection of parameters from which to identify emotional searched states through reduction and classification methods (Fisher projection, neural networks, support vector machines). Sept 00 July 05 Scientific Diploma Liceo Scientifico A. Sciascia (Secondary School) Canicattì, Italy Mark 100/100 Thesis Title: 'L Etna nel cinema.' The work is based on the film s theme and on the analysis of the neo-realism s period in Italy. Page 3 - Curriculum vitae - Rossella FONTANA
Additional Certifications Certificate of Participation Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) course (Mar 14) La Venerabile Arciconfraternita di Misericordia e Crocione di Pisa, Italy. The attended course gave me the basis to perform the emergency procedure in order to restore spontaneous blood flow and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest. Certificate of Participation - Skills and tools for entrepreneurship and technology management (Nov 11 Feb 12) Scuola Superiore Sant Anna, Pontedera, Italy. The course introduced me to the fundamental skills and tools regarding technology management in general and high-tech entrepreneurship in particular. I explored relevant theories from business studies that are useful to improve the skills on innovation management and entrepreneurship. Discussion of these theories was extremely applied. I also participated to meeting with some external speakers (entrepreneurs, managers, consultants, etc.) that were invited. Certificate of Participation - Medical Micro-Robots Workshop (March 11) Italian Institute of Technology, Scuola Superiore Sant Anna, Pontedera, Italy. Certificate of Participation - various seminars (Sept 04) Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy Participated in lessons held by professors of the Scuola Normale Superiore and other universities, aimed to accompany students in the maturation of their university career. Lessons incl. Medicine, Engineering, Informatics, Italian, French and Neo-Latin Europe Literature, Computational Science, Modern History, Theoretical Physics, Geophysics, Islamic Culture, The history of finance and money, The history of philosophy, Physics of matter, Mathematical physics, Classical philology, History of Science, Biophysics, Art history, Archeology). I also participated in meetings with professionals on issues of journalism, economics, theater and cinema. Certificate of English - Intermediate (Aug 03) Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, England Participated in an English Language Study Course of two weeks and as part of the programme visited the following cities: Cambridge, London, Ely and Stratford-upon-Avon. Certificate of Cambridge English Preliminary English Test - pass with merit. Page 4 - Curriculum vitae - Rossella FONTANA
Publications list ISI Journals A. Verbeni, R. Fontana, M. Silvestri, G. Tortora, M. Vatteroni, M. G. Trivella, P. Dario, An innovative adaptive control strategy for sensorized Left Ventricular Assist Devices, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and System, 2014, accepted. R. Fontana, M. Silvestri, G. Tortora, M. Vatteroni, M. G. Trivella, P. Dario, A portable system for autoregulation and remote control of sensorized left ventricular assist devices, The International Journal of Artificial Organs, 2014, submitted. IEEE Conferences Other Conferences R. Fontana, M. Silvestri, G. Tortora, M. Vatteroni, M. G. Trivella, P. Dario, An Autoregulation Unit for enabling adaptive control of sensorized left ventricular assist device, EMBC 2014, accepted. G. Tortora, R. Fontana, L. Fresiello, A. Di Molfetta, M. Silvestri, M. Vatteroni, K. Zieliński, M. Kozarski, P. Dario, M.G. Trivella, G. Ferrari, Experimental integration of Autoregulation Unit for left ventricular assist devices in a cardiovascular hybrid simulator, EMBC 2014, accepted. G. Tortora, R. Fontana, L. Fresiello, K. Zieliński, A. Di Molfetta, M. Kozarski, M. Silvestri, M. Vatteroni, M.G. Trivella, M. Darowski, P. Dario, G. Ferrari, Autoregulation unit for adaptive control of VADs: Experimental scenario on a cardiovascular hybrid simulator, ESAO 2014, accepted. L. Fresiello, K. Zieliński, Giuseppe Tortora, R. Fontana, A. Di Molfetta, G. Ferrari, M. Silvestri, M. Vatteroni, M.G. Trivella, M. Darowski, P. Dario, M. Kozarski, A hybrid cardiovascular simulator as test bench for VAD autoregulation control, ESAO 2014, accepted. R. Fontana, G. Tortora, M. Silvestri, M. Vatteroni, M.G. Trivella, P. Dario, Sensorized platform for implantable artificial heart, yesao, 2014, accepted. Giorgos Aristomenopoulos, R. Fontana, G. Tortora, M. Vatteroni, Remote Management of left ventricular device assisted patients, MOBIHEALTH 2014, accepted. Page 5 - Curriculum vitae - Rossella FONTANA
Language Skills Social Skills & Competencies Italian - mother tongue English - intermediate At the University of Pisa, as the coordinator of a student association, as student representative in the Biomedical Engineering Board, as member of the Engineering Faculty Board, as member of the Student Council, I have developed leadership and management skills, such as the coordination and management of group activities, team-work, the identification and pursuit of shared goals and values, the sharing of a common mission and vision. As coordinator of several cultural events, I took care of ensuring the success of the organization and its dissemination in schools and university. Technical skills OS: Microsoft Windows, Linux. Windows Applications: Word, Power Point, Excel, Access. DB Languages: Oracle, MS SQL; Programming Languages: VHDL, MatLab, LabView, Python, Delphi, Assembly, C++. CAD softwares: EAGLE, QUARTUS II. Tools: icecube2, Aldec, Xilinx ISE Design Suite, QSYS, Modelsim, VMD (visual molecular dynamics), SAAM II (simulation, analysis and modeling software for kinetic analysis), Simulink. Lab Equipment (oscilloscope, multimeter, function generator, welder, etc.) Good experience in advanced signal processing. Interests & hobbies Driver license Jazzercise instructor. Photography. B Rossella Fontana Page 6 - Curriculum vitae - Rossella FONTANA