Giancarlo Vanini, MD

Anesthesiology

Giancarlo Vanini is an assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and a member of the Center for Consciousness Science and Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Michigan.  He has dual training in medicine and neuroscience.

Research in the Vanini Laboratory focuses on understanding the brain circuitry underlying the regulation of arousal states of sleep and wakefulness, and how these wake- and sleep-promoting systems contribute to (1) fluctuation of consciousness levels across sleep-wake states, (2) the recovery of consciousness from general anesthesia, (3) the sleep-pain interface, and (4) the relationship between postoperative sleep disturbances and memory. To this end, the lab combines behavioral assays, electroencephalographic/electromyographic (EEG/EMG) recordings, neurochemical monitoring, recordings of calcium-dependent neuronal activity in freely behaving mice, viral tracing for identification of projection pathways, functional neuroanatomy, as well as chemogenetic/optogenetic tools to identify and probe neural networks controlling sleep, wakefulness, and nociception.