I was born in Catania (Italy) in 1982. I currently work as a Senior Academic
Researcher at the University of Catania (Italy). After graduation with honours in Medicine,
I trained at the School of Neurology and I got the international PhD at the same
University.
As visiting Clinical Research Fellow, I further trained at the Department of
Neuroscience and Clinical Neurophysiology of the Newcastle University (UK). In 2013 I
was selected for a Scientific Fellowship promoted by the European Federation of
Neurological Societies (EFNS). From 2013 to October 2018, I worked as a Consultant
Neurologist at the “Oasi Research Institute–IRCCS” in Troina (Italy), which is a
Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization (WHO). From 2015 to October
2018, I taught Neurology at the University of Enna (Italy).
I have authored more than 120
publications in internationally-indexed peer-reviewed Journals and Conferences or
Meetings, and I currently serve as Editor and invited Reviewer of several international
Journals. More recently, I obtained the Master of Science (Level I) in Clinical Research
and the National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor (procedure for the Italian
University Professor recruiting, based on rigorous criteria of scientific qualification).
I would like to become an Editor of this prestigious Journal for a number of reasons.
First, given its influential role within the international network related to this topic, the
Journal represents an outstanding chance to get connected with other clinicians and
researchers from other countries.
Second, an Editor is always updated in a wide variety of
“hot topics”, including cutting-edge subjects, emerging field of research, and innovative
therapies. Third, this position may provide the opportunity to advance scientific and
academic career. Finally, as part of a dynamic international community, an Editor can
reach a globally distributed audience to present any research or scientific achievement.
In conclusion, given my clinical background and research interests, I would be
honoured and delighted to join you as Editorial Board member and to contribute to the
high scientific and academic level of this Journal.
PUBLICATIONS IN INDEXED PEER-REVIEWED INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS
- Bella R, Pennisi G, Cantone M, Palermo F, Pennisi M, Lanza G, Zappia M, Paolucci S. Clinical
presentation and outcome of geriatric depression in subcortical ischemic vascular disease. Gerontology
2010;56(3):298-302. doi: 10.1159/000272003. PMID: 20051663.
- Faro A, Giordano D, Kavasidis I, Pino C, Spampinato C, Cantone MG, Lanza G, Pennisi M. An
interactive tool for customizing clinical transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experiments. XII
Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing 2010 IFMBE
Proceedings 2010;29:200-3. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-13039-7_50.
- Pennisi G, Ferri R, Cantone M, Lanza G, Pennisi M, Vinciguerra L, Malaguarnera G, Bella R. A review
of transcranial magnetic stimulation in vascular dementia. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 2011;31(1):71-80.
doi: 10.1159/000322798. PMID: 21242688.
- Pennisi G, Ferri R, Lanza G, Cantone M, Pennisi M, Puglisi V, Malaguarnera G, Bella R. Transcranial
magnetic stimulation in Alzheimer’s disease: a neurophysiological marker of cortical hyperexcitability. J
Neural Transm (Vienna) 2011;118(4):587-98. doi: 10.1007/s00702-010-0554-9. PMID: 21207079.
- Bella R, Ferri R, Pennisi M, Cantone M, Lanza G, Malaguarnera G, Spampinato C, Giordano D, Alagona
G, Pennisi G. Enhanced motor cortex facilitation in patients with vascular cognitive impairment-no
dementia. Neurosci Lett 2011;503(3):171-5. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2011.08.022. PMID: 21875648.
- Bella R, Ferri R, Cantone M, Pennisi M, Lanza G, Malaguarnera G, Spampinato C, Giordano D, Raggi
A, Pennisi G. Motor cortex excitability in vascular depression. Int J Psychophysiol 2011;82(3):248-53.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.09.006. PMID: 21945481.
- Pennisi M, Raggi A, Barone R, Muglia M, Citrigno L, Cantone M, Lanza G, Pennisi G, Ferri R, Bella R.
Phenotypic heterogeneity in hereditary motor neuropathy type V: a new case report series. Acta Neurol
Belg 2012;112(1):57-64. doi: 10.1007/s13760-012-0042-0. PMID: 22427291.
- Kavasidis I, Pino C, Spampinato C, Maiorana F, Lanza G. Performance Evaluation of Classifiers in
Distinguishing Mental Tasks from EEG Signals. Proceedings of the 9th IASTED International Conference
on Biomedical Engineering, Applied Informatics 2012. doi: 10.2316/P.2012.764-167.
- Lanza G, Bella R, Giuffrida S, Cantone M, Pennisi G, Spampinato C, Giordano D, Malaguarnera G,
Raggi A, Pennisi M. Preserved transcallosal inhibition to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in
nondemented elderly patients with leukoaraiosis. Biomed Res Int 2013;2013:351680. doi:
10.1155/2013/351680. PMID: 23984349.
- Bella R, Ferri R, Lanza G, Cantone M, Pennisi M, Puglisi V, Vinciguerra L, Spampinato C, Mazza T,
Malaguarnera G, Pennisi G. TMS follow-up study in patients with Vascular Cognitive Impairment – No
Dementia. Neurosci Lett 2013;534:155-9. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2012.12.017. PMID: 23274709.
- Spampinato C, Aguglia E, Concerto C, Pennisi M, Lanza G, Bella R, Cantone M, Pennisi G, Kavasidis I,
Giordano D. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Assessment of Motor Cortex Excitability and
Treatment of Drug-Resistant Major Depression. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2013;21(3):391-
403. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2013.2256432. PMID: 23559064.
- Concerto C, Lanza G, Cantone M, Pennisi M, Giordano D, Spampinato C, Ricceri R, Pennisi G, Aguglia
E, Bella R. Different patterns of cortical excitability in major depression and vascular depression: a
transcranial magnetic stimulation study. BMC Psychiatry 2013;13:300. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-13-300.
PMID: 24206945.
- Giuffrida S, Carpinteri G, Modica D, Pennisi M, Catalano A, Bella R, Pennisi G, Cornelius C, Lanza G*.
Focal neurological deficit in acute anemia: case reports and review of the literature. World J Neurosci
2013;3(2):53-56. doi:10.4236/wjns.201332007.
- Lanza G*, Vinciguerra L, Puglisi V, Modica D, Catalano A, Zelante G, Ricceri R, Lupo L, Giuffrida S,
Pennisi M. Course of atypical manifestations of a case of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease over 35 years of
clinical observation. Neurosci Med 2013;4(3):145-149.
- Lanza G*, Papotto M, Pennisi G, Bella R, Ferri R. Epileptic seizure as a precipitating factor of vascular
progressive supranuclear palsy: a case report. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis 2014;23(5):e379-81. doi:
10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2013.12.043. PMID: 24656241.
- Pennisi G, Lanza G, Giuffrida S, Vinciguerra L, Puglisi V, Cantone M, Pennisi M, D’Agate CC, Naso P,
Aprile G, Malaguarnera G, Ferri R, Bella R. Excitability of the motor cortex in de novo patients with
celiac disease. PLoS ONE 2014;9(7):e102790. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102790. PMID: 25062250.
- Lanza G*, Ferri R. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation For Restless Legs Syndrome: Probing The
Neurophysiological Basis Towards A Novel Therapeutic Tool? Neurol Res Ther OA 2014;1:1. doi:
10.14437/NRTOA-1-105.
- Lanza G*, Bella R. Detecting “Brain at Risk” for Vascular Dementia: the Contribution of Transcranial
Magnetic Stimulation. Austin J Cerebrovasc Dis Stroke 2014;1(4):1017.
- Lanza G*, Lanuzza B, Aricò D, Cantone M, Cosentino FII, Pennisi M, Bella R, Pennisi G, Ferri R. Direct
comparison of cortical excitability to transcranial magnetic stimulation in obstructive sleep apnea
syndrome and restless legs syndrome. Sleep Med 2015;16(1):138-42. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2014.08.016.
PMID: 25534710.
- Concerto C, Lanza G*, Cantone M, Ferri R, Pennisi G, Bella R, Aguglia E. Repetitive transcranial
magnetic stimulation in patients with drug-resistant major depression: A six-month clinical follow-up
study. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract 2015;19(4):252-8. doi: 10.3109/13651501.2015.1084329. PMID:
26398527.
- Lanza G*, Cantone M, Lanuzza B, Pennisi M, Bella R, Pennisi G, Ferri R. Distinctive patterns of cortical
excitability to transcranial magnetic stimulation in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, restless legs
syndrome, insomnia, and sleep deprivation. Sleep Med Rev 2015;19:39-50. doi:
10.1016/j.smrv.2014.04.001. PMID: 24849846.
- Pennisi G, Bella R, Lanza G. Motor cortex plasticity in subcortical ischemic vascular dementia: what can
TMS say? Clin Neurophysiol 2015;126:851–2. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2014.09.001. PMID: 25270240.
- Lanza G*, Papotto M, Pennisi G, Bella R, Ferri R. Unusual presentation of atypical akinetic-rigid
syndrome after liver transplantation: a case report and review of the literature. Acta Medica Medit
2015;31:647.
- Bella R, Lanza G, Cantone M, Giuffrida S, Puglisi V, Vinciguerra L, Pennisi M, Ricceri R, D’Agate CC,
Malaguarnera G, Ferri R, Pennisi G. Effect of a gluten-free diet on cortical excitability in adults with
celiac disease. PLoS ONE 2015;10(6):e0129218. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129218. PMID: 26053324.
- Lanza G, Vinciguerra L, Puglisi V, Giuffrida S, Foti P, Zelante G, Pennisi G, Bella R. Acute isolated
trochlear nerve palsy in a patient with cavernous carotid aneurysm and visit-to-visit variability in systolic
blood pressure. Int J Stroke 2015;10:E61. doi: 10.1111/ijs.12552. PMID: 26202714.
- Lanza G. Editorial Board member interview. Eur Med J Neurol 2015;31:38.
- Pennisi M, Lanza G, Cantone M, Ricceri R, Spampinato C, Pennisi G, Di Lazzaro V, Bella R. Correlation
between motor cortex excitability changes and cognitive impairment in Vascular Depression:
pathophysiological insights from a longitudinal TMS study. Neural Plast 2016;2016:8154969. doi:
10.1155/2016/8154969. PMID: 27525127.
- Bella R, Cantone M, Lanza G, Ferri R, Vinciguerra L, Puglisi V, Pennisi M, Ricceri R, Di Lazzaro V,
Pennisi G. Cholinergic circuitry functioning in patients with vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia.
Brain Stimul 2016;9(2):225-33. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2015.09.013. PMID: 26515786.
- Lanza G*, Lanuzza B, Aricò D, Cantone M, Cosentino FII, Pennisi M, Bella R, Pennisi G, Ferri R.
Response to the Letter to the Editor “Cortical excitability in Restless Legs Syndrome”. Sleep Med
2016;21:175. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2015.09.002. PMID: 26459686.
- Lanza G*, Bachmann CG, Ghorayeb I, Wang Y, Ferri R, Paulus W. Central and peripheral nervous
system excitability in Restless Legs Syndrome. Sleep Med 2017;31:49-60. doi:
10.1016/j.sleep.2016.05.010. PMID: 27745789.
- Lanza G*, Ferri R, Bella R, Ferini-Strambi L. The impact of drugs for Multiple Sclerosis on sleep. Mult
Scler 2017;23(1):5-13. doi: 10.1177/1352458516664034. PMID: 27503906.
- Lanza G*, Bramanti P, Cantone M, Pennisi M, Pennisi G, Bella R. Vascular Cognitive Impairment
through the looking glass of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Behav Neurol 2017;2017:1421326. doi:
10.1155/2017/1421326. PMID: 28348458.
- Cantone M, Lanza G*, Pennisi M, Bella R, Schepis C, Siragusa M, Barone R, Ferri R. Prominent
neurological involvement in Dercum Disease. J Neurol 2017; 264(4):796-8. doi: 10.1007/s00415-017-
8415-1. PMID: 28194532.
- Pennisi M, Lanza G*, Cantone M, Ricceri R, Ferri R, D’Agate CC, Pennisi G, Di Lazzaro V, Bella R.
Cortical involvement in celiac disease before and after long-term gluten-free diet: a Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation study. PLoS ONE 2017;12(5):e0177560. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177560. PMID:
28489931.
- Bordet R, Ihl R, Korczyn AD, Lanza G, Jansa J, Hoerr R, Guekht A. Towards the concept of diseasemodifier in post-stroke or vascular cognitive impairment. BMC Med 2017;15(1):107. doi:
10.1186/s12916-017-0869-6. PMID: 28539119.
- Cantone M, Bramanti A, Lanza G*, Pennisi M, Bramanti P, Pennisi G, Bella R. Cortical plasticity in
depression. ASN Neuro 2017;9(3):1759091417711512. doi: 10.1177/1759091417711512. PMID:
28629225.
- Pennisi M, Lanza G*, Cantone M, Schepis C, Ferri R, Barone R, Bella R. Unusual neurological
presentation of Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome (Gorlin-Goltz Syndrome). J Clin Neurol
2017;13(4):1-3. doi: 10.3988/jcn.2017.13.4.439. PMID: 28884983.
- Lanza G, Kosac A, Trajkovic G, Whittaker RG. Nerve conduction studies as a measure of disease
progression: objectivity or illusion? J Neuromusc Dis 2017;4(3):209-15. doi: 10.3233/JND-170243.
PMID: 28869485.
- Pennisi M, Bramanti A, Cantone M, Pennisi G, Bella R, Lanza G*. Neurophysiology of the “Celiac
Brain”: Disentangling Gut-brain Connections. Front Neurosci 2017;11:498. doi:
10.3389/fnins.2017.00498. PMID: 28928632.
- Zelante G, Ricceri R, Lanza G*, Fiumanò G, Pennisi G, Bella R. Retroclival subdural haematoma after
lumbar puncture: an uncommon complication for a common procedure. Neurol India 2017;65(6):1400-1.
doi: 10.4103/0028-3886.217963. PMID: 29133721.
- Lanza G*, Cantone M, Aricò D, Lanuzza B, Cosentino FII, Paci D, Papotto M, Pennisi M, Bella R,
Pennisi G, Paulus W, Ferri R. Clinical and electrophysiological impact of low-frequency rTMS on the
sensory-motor network in patients with restless legs syndrome. Ther Adv Neurol Disord 2018;11:1-12.
doi: 10.1177/1756286418759973. PMID: 29511386.
- Lanza G*, Cantone M, Musso S, Borgione E, Scuderi C, Ferri R. Early-onset subcortical ischemic
vascular dementia in an adult with mtDNA mutation 3316G>A. J Neurol 2018;265(4):968-969. doi:
10.1007/s00415-018-8795-x. PMID: 29464373.
- Lanza G*, Lanuzza B, Aricò D, Cantone M, Cosentino FII, Bella R, Pennisi G, Ferri R, Pennisi M.
Impaired short-term plasticity in Restless Legs Syndrome: a pilot rTMS study. Sleep Med 2018;46:1-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2018.02.008. PMID: 29773202.
- Cantone M, Catalano MA, Lanza G*, La Delfa G, Ferri R, Pennisi M, Bella R, Pennisi G, Bramanti A.
Motor and perceptual recovery in adult patients with mild intellectual disability. Neural Plast 2018;2018:
3273246. doi: 10.1155/2018/3273246. PMID: 29849555.
- Lanza G*, Centonze SS, Destro G, Vella V, Bellomo M, Pennisi M, Bella R, Ciavardelli D. Shiatsu as an
adjuvant therapy for depression in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: a pilot study. Complement Ther
Med 2018;38:74-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2018.04.013. PMID: 29857884.
- Puglisi V, Bramanti A, Lanza G, Cantone M, Vinciguerra L, Pennisi M, Bonanno L, Pennisi G, Bella R.
Impaired cerebral haemodynamics in Vascular Depression: insights from Transcranial Doppler
ultrasonography. Front Psychiatry 2018;9:316. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00316. PMID: 30061847.
- Lanza G. Editorial Board member interview. Eur Med J Neurol 2018;6.1:39-42.
48) Lanza G*, Bella R, Cantone M, Pennisi G, Ferri R, Pennisi M. Cognitive impairment and Celiac Disease:
is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation a trait d’union between gut and brain? Int J Mol Sci 2018;19:2243.
doi:10.3390/ijms19082243. PMID: 30065211.
- Lanza G*. Giuseppe Lanza Research Interest. JSM Health Educ Prim Health Care 2018;3(1):1041.
- Calì F, Cantone M, Cosentino FII, Lanza G, Ruggeri G, Chiavetta V, Salluzzo R, Ragalmuto A, Vinci M,
Ferri R. Interpreting genetic variants: hints from a family cluster of Parkinson’s disease. J Parkinsons Dis
2019;9(1):203-6. doi: 10.3233/JPD-171292. PMID: 30400105.
- Lanza G*, Centonze SS, Destro G, Vella V, Bellomo M, Pennisi M, Bella R, Ciavardelli D. Comment on
“Shiatsu as an adjuvant therapy for depression in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: a pilot study”. J Evid
Based Integr Med 2019;24:1-4. doi: 10.1177/2515690X18825105. PMID: 30789056.
- Lanza G*, Ferri R. The Neurophysiology of Hyperarousal in RLS: Hints for a Role of Glutamate/GABA.
Adv Pharmacol 2019;84(5):101-19. doi: 10.1016/bs.apha.2018.12.002. PMID: 31229167.
- Vinciguerra L, Lanza G*, Puglisi V, Pennisi M, Cantone M, Bramanti A, Pennisi G, Bella R.
Transcranial Doppler ultrasound in vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia. PLoS ONE
14(4):e0216162. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216162. PMID: 31017968.
- Cantone M, Lanza G*, Vinciguerra L, Puglisi V, Ricceri R, Fisicaro F, Vagli C, Bella R, Ferri R, Pennisi
G, Di Lazzaro V, Pennisi M. Age, Height, and Sex on Motor Evoked Potentials: Translational Data from a
Large Italian Cohort in a Clinical Environment. Front Hum Neurosci 2019;13:185. doi:
10.3389/fnhum.2019.00185. PMID: 31214003.
- Lanza G*, Casabona JA, Bellomo M, Cantone M, Fisicaro F, Bella R, Pennisi G, Bramanti P, Pennisi M,
Bramanti A. Update on Intensive Motor Training in Spino-cerebellar Ataxia: time to move a step
forward? J Int Med Res 2019; 300060519854626. doi: 10.1177/0300060519854626. PMID: 31537137.
- Cantone M, Lanza G*, Bella R, Pennisi G, Santalucia P, Bramanti P, Pennisi M. Fear and disgust: case
report of two uncommon emotional disturbances evoked by visual disperceptions after a right temporalinsular stroke. BMC Neurol 2019;19:193. doi: 10.1186/s12883-019-1417-0. PMID: 31409291.
- Cantone M, Lanza G*, Le Pira A, Barone R, Pennisi G, Bella R, Pennisi M, Fiumara A. Adjunct
diagnostic value of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in mucopolysaccharidosis-related cervical
myelopathy: a pilot study. Brain Sci 2019;9(8): 200; doi:10.3390/brainsci9080200. PMID: 31416150.
- Fisicaro F, Lanza G*, Grasso AA, Pennisi G, Bella R, Paulus W, Pennisi M. Repetitive transcranial
magnetic stimulation in stroke rehabilitation: review of the current evidences and pitfalls. Ther Adv
Neurol Disord 2019;12:1-22. doi: 10.1177/1756286419878317. PMID: 31598137.
- Pennisi M, Malaguarnera G, Di Bartolo G, Lanza G, Bella R, Chisari EM, Cauli O, Vicari E,
Malaguarnera M. Vitamin D deficiency in elderly subjects with fatigue. Nutrients 2019;11:2531. doi:
10.3390/nu11102531.
- Vinciguerra L, Cantone M, Lanza G, Bramanti A, Santalucia P, Puglisi V, Pennisi G, Bella R.
Migrainous infarction and cerebral vasospasm: case report and literature review. J Pain Res 2019;12:
2941-50. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S209485.
- Brown P, RELISH Consortium (Lanza G), ZhouY. Large expert-curated database for benchmarking
document similarity detection in biomedical literature search. Database 2019; 2019, in press. doi:
10.1093/database/baz085.
- Lanza G*, Aricò D, Lanuzza B, Cosentino FII, Tripodi M, Giardina F, Bella R, Puligheddu M, Pennisi
G, Ferri R, Pennisi M. Facilitatory/inhibitory intracortical imbalance in REM-sleep Behavior Disorder:
early electrophysiological marker of neurodegeneration? Sleep 2019, in press. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsz242.
PMID: 31599326.
- Lanza G, Cantone M, Puglisi V, Vinciguerra L, Fisicaro F, Vagli C, Bella R, Pennisi G, Di Lazzaro V,
Pennisi M. “Mute” plantar response: does the cortico-spinal tract “speak”? Brain Stimul, in press. doi:
10.1016/j.brs.2019.07.008. PMID: 31362869.
- Fisicaro F, Lanza G*, Bella R, Pennisi M. “Self-neuroenhancement”: the last frontier of non-invasive
brain stimulation? J Clin Neurol 2019, in press.
- Lanza G*, Pino M, Fisicaro F, Vagli C, Cantone M, Pennisi M, Bella R, Bellomo M. Motor activity and
Becker’s muscular dystrophy: lights and shadows. Phys Sportsmed 2019, in press.
