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.

Since 2025 he is also Adjunct Professor at the Queensland University of Technology, Faculty of Health, Australia.

He is Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, IEEE Senior Member, Deputy Editor of the Ultrasound Journal (Springer Nature), Associate Editor for the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Editorial Board member of Ultrasonics (Elsevier) and served (from 2021 to 2025) as member of the Medical Ultrasound Technical Program Committee of the IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium and (from 2018 to 2023) as Biomedical Acoustics Technical Program Organizer (TPO) for the Meetings of the Acoustical Society of America.

Dr. Federico Mento - Assistant Professor

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 an Assistant Professor 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. 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. In 2025 Dr. Afrakhteh was awarder with a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, thanks to which he will focus his research on Ultrasound Localization Microscopy in collaboration with University of Trento and Eindhoven University of Technology.

Dr. Hamed Jalilian - PostDoc

received the B. Sc. Degree (First Grade) in applied mathematics from Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran in 2013, and the M. Sc. degree in numerical applied mathematics from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran in 2015. Hamed completed his Ph.D. degree in numerical applied mathematics (integral equations), IUST, Iran in 2020 (PhD Thesis: Nonpolynomial spline for solving volterra-fredholm integral equations). Now he is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science at University of Trento with Prof. Dr. Libertario Demi. His research interests surround developing numerical methods for using in processing ultrasound images, integral equations, nonlinear problems, and image processing. 

Dr. Eleonora Balzani - PostDoc

Dr. Eleonora Balzani received her Degree in Medicine in 2018 and completed her residency in Anesthesiology and Critical Care in 2024. In 2023, she undertook a one-year Research Fellowship at the University Health Network (UHN), Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Canada, focusing on acute respiratory failure. She is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Trento, Italy. Dr. Balzani is a member of the NEXT Committee of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM). She has completed advanced training courses in data analysis at Erasmus Medical Center (Erasmus MC, Rotterdam) and methodology courses in clinical research at GIMBE foundation and Cochrane. Her research interests include data analysis and clinical research in critically ill patients with respiratory failure.

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.

Xi Han - PhD Student

Originally from China, Han Xi earned her Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai). Se completed her Master's degree at the University of Trento, supervised by Professor Libertario Demi. Since childhood, her dream has been to become a doctor and make an impact on healthcare. Her thesis research is making this dream a reality, as she is employing deep learning techniques to automatically score neonatal lung ultrasound data in frame-level, aiming to improve diagnosis in lung health. Since November she will be a Ph.D. student within the Ultrasound Research Lab.

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.