Contact
Professor
Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Physiology Dept
- silviap@ualberta.ca
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
respiratory neurobiology neuroscience in vivo physiology optogenetics brainstem sleep states sleep disordered breathing immunohistochemistry inspiratory/ expiratory activity EMG/EEG confocal imaging sleep chemogenetics electrophysiology
About
Dr. Silvia Pagliardini is currently appointed as Professor in the Department of Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.
Research
neuromodulation of breathing; state dependent modulation of breathing; sleep disordered breathing; respiratory rhythmogenesis.
Breathing is an automatic behaviour that is essential for mammalian life and requires a coordinated contraction of respiratory muscles that must occur continuously, from birth until the last breath. In humans and other mammals the part of the brain that controls respiratory activity is the brainstem, where specialized groups of neurons generate a continuous rhythm that ultimately drives respiratory muscles. Two regions in the brainstem contribute to generate respiratory rhythms, the preBötzinger Complex (that drives inspiratory muscle activity) and the paraFacial Respiratory Group (that drives expiratory muscle activity).
Respiratory activity is also highly influenced by brain state activity, with abnormalities and irregularities occurring most frequently during sleep, when voluntary respiratory control is lacking, and chemosensitive and propriosensory feedback systems are often insufficient to maintain a rhythmic respiratory drive and airway patency (sleep disordered breathing).
Research conducted in the Pagliardini laboratory aims to gain an understanding of the neuronal mechanisms that control breathing and affect its function during sleep, when the majority of respiratory disorders of central origin occur. We are currently interested in delineating the function of a region in the brainstem that is crucial for the generation of expiratory activity, the paraFacial Respiratory Group. Its contribution to ventilation in health and disease is yet not clear. We are also interested to study how brain state and different neuromodulators affect breathing rhythm and pattern.
We use a combination of physiological, anatomical, pharmacological,chemogenetic and optogenetic techniques to test our hypotheses.
Teaching
Respiratory Physiology (PHYSL210); Neurophysiology (PHYSL310); PHYSL Honors Research coordinator (PHYSL461,467,468/469); PHYSL reading course (PHYSL466); Optogenetics&Chemogenetics (PMCOL371).
Neuroscience undergraduate program coordinator.
Courses
PHYSL 461 - Undergraduate Research Project
Individual study, open to Physiology Honours undergraduate students who have identified a supervisor in the Department of Physiology. Co-supervision with Professors from other Departments is possible, provided that a supervisor from the department of Physiology is identified. Students will spend one term in the laboratory of a faculty member and carry out a laboratory physiology research project. Registration package and further information are available on the Physiology Department website. Prerequisites: PHYSL 210 or PHYSL 212/214 and consent from the course coordinator.
PHYSL 467A - Undergraduate Research Project
Individual study, open to Physiology Honours undergraduate students who have identified a supervisor in the Department of Physiology. Co-supervision with Professors from other Departments is possible, provided that a supervisor from the department of Physiology is identified. Students will spend two terms in the laboratory of a faculty member and carry out a laboratory physiology research project. Registration package and further information are available on the Physiology Department website. Prerequisites: PHYSL 210 or PHYSL 212/214 and consent from the course coordinator.
PHYSL 467B - Undergraduate Research Project
Individual study, open to Physiology Honours undergraduate students who have identified a supervisor in the Department of Physiology. Co-supervision with Professors from other Departments is possible, provided that a supervisor from the department of Physiology is identified. Students will spend two terms in the laboratory of a faculty member and carry out a laboratory physiology research project. Registration package and further information are available on the Physiology Department website. Prerequisites: PHYSL 210 or PHYSL 212/214 and consent from the course coordinator.
PHYSL 468 - Undergraduate Research Thesis I
Individual study, open to Physiology Honours undergraduate students who have identified a supervisor in the Department of Physiology. Taken in conjunction with PHYSL 469, this 6-credit course is the first part of a 12-credit program in two terms resulting in an honours research thesis in physiology. Students will spend the Fall term in the laboratory of a supervisor and carry out a research project to be continued in the second term as PHYSL 469. Co-supervision with Professors from other Departments is possible, provided that a supervisor from the Department of Physiology is identified. Students will be evaluated on an oral presentation, a written research proposal and performance in the laboratory. Prerequisites: PHYSL 210 or PHYSL 212/214 and consent from the course coordinator.
PHYSL 469 - Undergraduate Research Thesis II
Taken in conjunction with PHYSL 468, this 6-credit course is the second part of a 12-credit program in two terms resulting in an honours research thesis in Physiology. Upon satisfactory progress in first-term PHYSL 468, students will continue their research and produce an honours thesis on their project. Students will be evaluated on a final oral presentation, a written research Thesis and performance in the laboratory. Prerequisites: PHYSL 210 or PHYSL 212/214 and consent from the course coordinator.
Featured Publications
Tara A. Janes, Silvia Cardani, Silvia Pagliardini
Journal of Neuroendocrinology. 2026 September; 10.1111/jne.70256
Silvia Cardani, Tara A. Janes, Ryaad Asif, Silvia Pagliardini
Acta Physiologica. 2026 April; 10.1111/apha.70194
eLife. 2024 July; 10.7554/eLife.94276.3
eLife. 2024 May; 10.7554/eLife.94653
Vivian Biancardi, Xiaqiu Yang, Xiuqing Ding, Dhruv Passi, Gregory D. Funk, Silvia Pagliardini
Journal of Comparative Neurology. 2023 September; 10.1002/cne.25497
Jasmeen K. Saini, Tara. A. Janes, Joanna E. MacLean, Silvia Pagliardini
Journal of Sleep Research. 2022 August; 10.1111/jsr.13539
International Society of Arterial Chemoreception (ISAC) XXI Meeting, Lisbon June 2022.. 2022 June; https://arterialchemoreceptors.org/
Brandon E. Hauer, Silvia Pagliardini, Clayton T. Dickson
Hippocampus. 2022 June; 10.1002/hipo.23420
Cardani S., Janes T.A., Saini J.K., Di Lascio S., Benfante R., Fornasari D., Pagliardini S.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2022 May; 23 (9) 10.3390/ijms23094816
Joseph V., Pagliardini S., Belaidi E.
Frontiers in Physiology. 2022 February; 13 10.3389/fphys.2022.857627
Rohhad International Consortium.. 2022 February; https://www.rohhad.org/conference
Hauer B.E., Pagliardini S., Dickson C.T.
Frontiers in Neuroanatomy. 2022 January; 15 10.3389/fnana.2021.804872
Vivian Biancardi, Jashan Saini, Anileen Pageni, Hema Prashaad M., Gregory D. Funk, Silvia Pagliardini
Journal of Comparative Neurology. 2021 March; 10.1002/cne.24984
Baddam P., Biancardi V., Roth D.M., Eaton F., Thereza-Bussolaro C., Mandal R., Wishart D.S., Barr A., MacLean J., Flores-Mir C., Pagliardini S., Graf D.
DMM Disease Models and Mechanisms. 2021 February; 14 (2) 10.1242/dmm.047738
Annette Pisanski, Xiuqing Ding, Nils A Koch, Silvia Pagliardini
Sleep. 2020 May; 10.1093/sleep/zsz283
Brandon E. Hauer, Silvia Pagliardini, Clayton T. Dickson
eneuro. 2019 September; 10.1523/ENEURO.0365-19.2019
Annette Pisanski, Silvia Pagliardini
Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology. 2019 July; 10.1016/j.resp.2018.06.010
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