People

Prof. Libertario Demi - Principal Investigator (PI)

received his BS and MS degree (cum laude) in telecommunication engineering from the University of Pisa (Italy) in 2006 and 2008, respectively, and his PhD degree in applied physics from the Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) in 2013. After a postdoctorate period at the Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands), he worked as consultant for TMC Science & Technology (Belgium), as research scientist for IMEC (Belgium), as well as visiting scholar at Twente University (the Netherlands), Stanford University (USA) and KAIST (South Korea). 

In 2018, he joined the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento (Italy) as an Assistant Professor. In the same year he founded ULTRa (Ultrasound Lab Trento). Since 2021 he is an Associate Professor within the same Department.

He is Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, IEEE Senior Member, the Biomedical Acoustics Technical Program Organizer (TPO) for the Meetings of the Acoustical Society of America, a member of the Medical Ultrasound Technical Program Committee of the IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, Editorial Board Member of Ultrasonics and Associate Editor for the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Dr. Sajjad Afrakhteh - PostDoc

received the B. Sc. Degree (First Grade) in electrical engineering from Shiraz University of Technology, Iran in 2015, and the M. Sc. degree in digital electronics from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Iran in 2017. Sajjad completed his Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering, IUST, Iran in 2021 (PhD Thesis: Increasing the Frame Rate and Fast beamforming in Ultrasound Imaging Using Matrix Completion). He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Trento, Italy, working with Prof. Dr. Libertario Demi. His research interests include ultrasound imaging, artificial intelligence, machine learning, signal processing, and image processing.

Dr. Federico Mento - PostDoc

received his B.S. degree in Telecommunications and Electronic Engineering, the M.S. degree in Information and Communication Engineering (summa cum laude), and his PhD (summa cum laude) from the University of Trento, Italy, in 2017, 2019 and 2022, respectively. Currently he is a PostDoc at the Ultrasound Research Lab, University of Trento. His main research interest includes deep learning and signal processing. He is currently working on the characterisation of vertical artifacts in lung ultrasound imaging.

Dr. Umair Khan - PostDoc

received his BS and MS degree in Computer Systems Engineering from University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar, Pakistan in 2015 and 2018 respectively. Since then, he was serving as a Lecturer in the department of Computer Sciences at COMSATS University Islamabad, Attock Campus (Pakistan). During his tenure he was part of various research projects, aiming towards application of image processing and machine learning techniques over inter-disciplinary domains. Significant contributions were made in the identification of progressive stages of neurodegenerative disease, Alzheimer. Significant contributions were made in the identification of progressive stages of neurodegenerative disease, Alzheimer. In continuation of his contribution towards the medical field, in 2021 he joined as a PhD scholar at ULTRa (Ultrasound Lab Trento). In 2024 he received his PhD, from the University of Trento. His doctoral research mainly focused on development of AI-based solutions for patients affected by COVID-19 induced pneumonia, which was extended from adults to pediatrics during his active collaboration with Boston University. Since then he is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science at University of Trento. His research interests surround developing generalizable AI-based solutions for resource-constrained environments. 

Noreen Fatima - PhD student

is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Information Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Trento (Italy) currently working on Ultrasound data analysis and diseases predictions. She has completed her M.E degree in Software Engineering from Chongqing University (China) in 2021 with a thesis on Breast Cancer Predictions. Her B.E degree is in Software Engineering from COMSATS University Islamabad (Pakistan). She has done various projects on Cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Her research interests include Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and their application in Biomedical Data Analysis and Diseases Prediction.

Giulia Tuccio - PhD student

received her B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Trento (Italy) in 2020 and the M.S. degree in Mechatronics from University of Trento (Italy) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) in 2022, with a thesis on personalized cardiovascular models. Her research interests include machine learning, deep learning and image processing, mainly applied to the medical domain. In November 2022 she joined as PhD student the Ultrasound Research Lab, where she is currently working on super resolution ultrasound imaging using ultrasound contrasts agents.

Mattia Perpenti - PhD Student

received his Bachelor's and Master's degree in Information and Communications Engineering from the University of Trento in 2021 and 2023, respectively. He is currently pursuing his PhD degree in Information and Communications Engineering at the same institute. His interests include Deep Learning, Signal processing and Ultrasound technologies for medical purposes including Contrast agents and Drug delivery.

Chiara Zangrandi - PhD Student

received her B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Padova (Italy) in 2021 and her M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy) in 2024, with a master's thesis in collaboration with LISiN laboratory (Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy) and the Oxford Neural Interfacing Group (University of Oxford, UK). During her undergraduate studies, she completed an internship at the Clinical Engineering Service of APSS in Trento. Throughout her academic journey, she developed a keen interest in image and signal processing, as well as machine learning and deep learning algorithms for biomedical applications. In November 2024, she will begin her Ph.D. at the Ultrasound Research Lab.

Luca Giaccone - PhD Student

received his BS degree in Physical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino in 2021 and his MS degree in Physics of Complex Systems, graduating cum laude, from the same institution in 2023. During his master's studies, he conducted his thesis research as a visiting researcher at Princeton University, exploring the mathematical properties of biological networks.

Currently, he is pursuing his PhD in Information Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Trento. His doctoral research aims to investigate the topological properties of vascular networks, reconstructed via ultrasound microscopy, with a focus on disease prediction. His research interests include deep learning, ultrasound imaging, and the mathematical modeling of complex systems.