Head of the Unit of Clinical and Instrumental
Neurology and Neurophysiopathology
Associazione Oasi Maria SS. – Research Institute
Via Conte Ruggero, 73
94018 Troina (EN)
Tel +39 0935-936111
Fax +39 0935-653327
e-mail melia@oasi.en.it
Dr. Maurizio Elia was born in Cosenza on October 27, 1962. He took a high school diploma in 1980 at Liceo Classico “Bernardino Telesio” in Cosenza. In 1986, he graduated summa cum laude from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Rome) in Medicine and Surgery. In 1990 he specialized in Neurology. In 1988 he worked as a researcher at the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology of the ISS (Istituto Superiore di Sanità) in Rome. During this stage, he carried out research on neuropharmacology, namely on an experimental model of pentilentetrazole-induced epilepsy. In 1991 he worked at the Child Neuropsychiatry Service of the University of Verona, focusing his work on diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases in infancy and childhood. Between 1988 and 1990, he obtained a Research fellowship at Oasi Maria SS. Research Institute in Troina (Enna, Italy), where he dealt with the preparation of methods for detection of neurophysiological data in small laboratory animals. From 1990 through 2003, his research activity was devoted to clinical and neurophysiological studies on epilepsy, mental retardation and autism.
Since 2004, he has been Head of the Unit of Clinical and Instrumental Neurology and Neurophysiopathology at Oasi Maria SS. Research Institute. Since 2001, he has also been Oasi Maria SS. Deputy Scientific Director.
He has so far published more than 100 international papers in peer-reviewed journals, on the following topics: neurology, neurobiology, neurophysiology and genetics, focusing in particular on epilepsy and autism.
Selected publications:
Elia M, Ferri R, Musumeci SA, Del Gracco S, Bottitta M, Scuderi C, Miano G, Panerai S, Bertrand T, Grubar J-C. Sleep in subjects with autistic disorder: a neurophysiological and psychological study. Brain Dev 22: 88-92, 2000.
Elia M, Ferri R, Musumeci SA, Panerai S, Bottitta M, Scuderi C. Clinical correlates of brain morphometric features of subjects with low-functioning autistic disorder. J Child Neurol 15: 504-8, 2000.
Romano V, Calì F, Mirisola M, Gambino G, Anna RD, Di Rosa P, Seidita G, Chiavetta V, Aiello F, Canziani F, De Leo G, Ayala GF, Elia M. Lack of association of HOXA1 and HOXB1 mutations and autism in Sicilian (Italian) patients. Mol Psychiatry 8: 716-7, 2003.
Elia M, Striano P, Fichera M, Gaggero R, Castiglia L, Galesi O, Malacarne M, Pierluigi M, Amato C, Musumeci SA, Romano C, Majore S, Grammatico P, Zara F, Striano S, Faravelli F. 6q terminal deletion syndrome associated with a distinctive EEG and clinical pattern: a report of five cases. Epilepsia 47:830-8, 2006.
Di Bella MA, Cali F, Seidita G, Mirisola M, Ragusa A, Ragalmuto A, Galesi O, Elia M, Greco D, Zingale M, Gambino G, D'Anna RP, Regan R, Carbone MC, Gallo A, Romano V. Screening of subtelomeric rearrangements in autistic disorder: Identification of a partial trisomy of 13q34 in a patient bearing a 13q;21p translocation. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 141:584-90, 2006.
Laumonier F, Roger S, Guerin P, Molinari F, M'Rad R, Canard D, Belhadj A, Halayem M, Persico AM, Elia M, Romano V, Holbert S, Andrei C, Chaabouni H, Colleaux L, Constant J, Le Guennec J-Y, Briault S. Association of a functional deficit of the BKCa channel, a synaptic regulator of neuronal excitability, with autism and mental retardation. Am J Psychiatry 163: 1622-9, 2006.
Campbell DB, Sutcliffe JS, Ebert PJ, Militerni R, Bravaccio C, Trillo S, Elia M, Schneider C, Melmed R, Sacco R, Persico AM, Levitt. A genetic variant that disrupts MET transcription is associated with autism. PNAS 103: 16834-9, 2006.
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