Department of Neurosciences "Rita Levi Montalcini"

Selected research products

Publications indexed

1. Benedetti F, Frisaldi E, Shaibani A. Thirty Years of Neuroscientific Investigation of Placebo and Nocebo: The Interesting, the Good, and the Bad. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 2021; 62. In press
2. Frisaldi E, Zamfira DA, Benedetti F. The subthalamic nucleus and the placebo effect inParkinson’s disease. Handbook of Clinical Neurology 2021: 180. In press
3. Frisaldi E, Bottino P, Fabbri M, Trucco M, De Ceglia A, Esposito N, Barbiani D, Camerone EM, Federico Costa, Destefanis C, Milano E, Massazza G, Zibetti M, Lopiano L, Benedetti F. Effectiveness of a dance-physiotherapy combined intervention in Parkinson’s disease: a randomized controlled pilot trial. Neurological Sciences 2021; 20 March.
4. Dottor A, Camerone E, Job M, Barbiani D, Frisaldi E, Testa M. A new visual feedback-based system for the assessment of pinch force, endurance, accuracy and precision. A test-retest reliability study. Hand Therapy 2021; 24 March.
5. Frisaldi E, Shaibani A, Benedetti F. Understanding the mechanisms of placebo and nocebo effects. Swiss Medical Weekly 2020; 150:w20340.
6. Benedetti F, Frisaldi E, Barbiani D, Camerone E, Shaibani A. Nocebo and the contribution of psychosocial factors to the generation of pain. J Neural Transm 2020; 127(4):687-696.
7. Carlino E, Piedimonte A, Romagnolo A, Guerra G, Frisaldi E, Vighetti S, Lopiano L, Benedetti F. Verbal communication about drug dosage balances drug reduction in Parkinson's disease: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidences. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2019; 65:184-189.
8. Benedetti F, Frisaldi E, Piedimonte A. The need to investigate nocebo effects in more detail. World Psychiatry 2019; 18(2):227-228.
9. Frisaldi E, Shaibani A, Vollert J, Ferrero B, Carrino E, Ibraheem HD, Vase L, Benedetti F. The placebo response in myasthenia gravis assessed by QMG score: A meta-analysis. Muscle Nerve 2019; 59(6):671-678.
10. Frisaldi E, Shaibani A, Benedetti F. Placebo responders and nonresponders: what's new? Pain Manag 2018; 8(6):405-408.
11. Benedetti F, Piedimonte A, Frisaldi E. How do placebos work? Eur J Psychotraumatol 2018; 9(Suppl3):1533370.
12. Benedetti F, Frisaldi E, Shaibani A. Placebo effects: the need for a new perspective and conceptualization. Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol 2018; 11(6):543-544.
13. Frisaldi E, Carlino E, Zibetti M, Barbiani D, Dematteis F, Lanotte M, Lopiano L, Benedetti F. The placebo effect on bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease with and without prior drug conditioning. Mov Disord 2017; 32(10):1474-1478.
14. Frisaldi E, Shaibani A, Benedetti F. Why we should assess patients’ expectations in clinical trials. Pain Ther 2017; 6(1):107-110.
15. Shaibani A, Frisaldi E, Benedetti F. Placebo response in pain, fatigue, and performance: Possible implications for neuromuscular disorders. Muscle Nerve 2017; 56(3):358-367.
16. Benedetti F, Frisaldi E, Carlino E, Giudetti L, Pampallona A, Zibetti M, Lanotte M, Lopiano L. Teaching neurons to respond to placebos. J. Physiol 2016; 594(19):5647-60.
17. Frisaldi E, Piedimonte A, Benedetti F. Placebo and nocebo effects: a complex interplay between psychological factors and neurochemical networks. Am J Clin Hypn 2015; 57(3):267-84.
18. Carlino E, Torta DM, Piedimonte A, Frisaldi E, Vighetti S, Benedetti F. Role of explicit verbal information in conditioned analgesia. Eur J Pain 2015; 19(4):546-53.
19. Carlino E, Piedimonte A, Frisaldi E. The effects of placebos and nocebos on physical performance. Handb Exp Pharmacol 2014; 225:149-57.
20. Benedetti F, Frisaldi E. Creating placebo responders and nonresponders in the laboratory: boons and banes. Pain Manag 2014; 4(3):165-7.
21. Carlino E, Frisaldi E, Rainero I, Asteggiano G, Cappa G, Tarenzi L, Vighetti S, Pollo A, Pinessi L, Benedetti F. Nonlinear analysis of electroencephalogram in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Neuroreport 2014; 25(7):496-500.
22. Carlino E, Frisaldi E, Benedetti F. Pain and the context. Nat Rev Rheumatol 2014; 10(6):348-55.
23. Frisaldi E, Carlino E, Lanotte M, Lopiano L, Benedetti F. Characterization of the thalamic-subthalamic circuit involved in the placebo response through single-neuron recording in Parkinson patients. Cortex 2014; 60:3-9.
24. Garino E, Berrino M, Bertinetto F, Caropreso P, Chidichimo R, Dametto E, Fasano ME, Frisaldi E, Mazzola G, Tondat F, Boccadoro M, Bruno B, Amoroso A. Identification of a new allele, HLA-DRB5*0113, through three different molecular biology techniques. Tissue Antigens 2006; 67(5):427-9.
25. Frisaldi E, Conca R, Magistroni P, Fasano ME, Mazzola G, Patanè F, Zingarelli E, Dall’Omo AM, Brusco A, Amoroso A. Prognostic values of soluble CD30 and CD30 gene polymorphism in heart transplantation. Transplantation 2006; 81(8):1153-56.
26. Garino E, Berrino M, Mazzola G, Boccadoro M, Bruno B, Bertinetto F, Bertola L, Caropreso P, Frisaldi E, Marin F, Peniello ML, Tondat F, Dall’Omo AM. Identification of a new HLA-DRB1 allele in three members of an italian family. Tissue Antigens 2004; 64(2):210-212.
27. Granziero L, Circosta P, Scielzo C, Frisaldi E, Stella S, Geuna M, Giordano S, Ghia P, Caligaris-Cappio F. CD100/Plexine-B1 interactions sustain proliferation and survivin of normal leukemic CD5+B lymphocytes. Blood 2003; 101(5):1962-69.

Publications non-indexed

1. Frisaldi E, Trucco M, Bottino P, Massazza G. From dance as body expression to dance as therapy. pH magazine 2020, n. 1. Edi Ermes Medical publisher Edition, Milan, Italy. Editorial board made up of members of the Italian Society of Physiology.
2. Frisaldi E, Giudetti L, Pampallona A, Benedetti F. Psychology, neurobiology, ethics of the placebo effects and of the doctor-patient relationship. Italian Journal of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmacoutilization (GIFF) 2014; 6(4):17-22. ISSN 2279-9168
3. Benedetti F, Frisaldi E. Il medico e la terapia come forme di ricompensa. Italian Journal of the Addictions (MDD) 2012; 2(8): pp.27-30.

Book chapters

1. Frisaldi E, Shaibani A, Benedetti F, (2021) Placebo, nocebo, caring and healing. In Hochberg MC (Ed), Textbook of Rheumatology, 8th Edition, Vol 2. Elsevier. In press
2. Frisaldi E, Shaibani A, Benedetti F (2021) Placebo/nocebo: a two-sided coin in the clinician’s hands. In: Lynch ME, Craig KD, Peng PWH (Eds), Clinical Pain Management: A Practical Guide, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Blackwell. In press
3. Frisaldi E, Shaibani A, Benedetti F (2021) Placebo and nocebo effects in clinical trials and clinical practice. In: Benzon HT et al. (Eds), Practical Management of Pain, 6th edition. Elsevier. In press
4. Benedetti F, Carlino E, Frisaldi E, Piedimonte A, Zibetti M, Lanotte M, Lopiano L. Placebo and nocebo responses in Parkinson’s disease. Chapter 31. The neuroscience of Parkinson’s Disease. Martin and Preedy Editors, Elsevier (San Diego). September 2020. ISBN13 9780128159583
5. Frisaldi E, Barbiani D, Benedetti F. The neurobiology of placebo effects. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Science of Addiction. Section 3 - Psychological and Neural Mechanisms, pp. 392-400, Hanna Pickard and Serge Ahmed Eds., 1 edition June 5, 2018. ISBN: 978-1138909281
6. Benedetti F, Frisaldi E. Neurochemistry of placebo analgesia: opioids, cannabinoids and cholecystokinin. Chapter 2. Placebo and Pain. From Bench to Bedside, Meissner K, Colloca L, Flaten M, Eds. Elsevier, Oxford, UK, 1 edition September 1, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-12-397928-5.

Encyclopaedia entries

1. Frisaldi E, Shaibani A, Benedetti F. Placebo Effect. Encyclopaedia of Behavioural Neuroscience, 2^ndEdition. Koob and Della Sala Editors, Elsevier Science Publishing Co Inc (United States). September 2021. ISBN13 9780128196410.
2. Frisaldi E, Barbiani D, Benedetti F. Placebo effects in Psychology. Oxford Bibliographies in Psychology, Oxford University Press, 26 July 2017.

Books

1. Benedetti F, Enck P, Frisaldi E, Schedlowski M. Placebo. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014. ISBN 978-3-662-44519-8
2. Frisaldi E. Ancora una volta ero io il curioso. I viaggi di Luca Cavalli-Sforza. Codice Edizioni, 2011. ISBN: 978-88-7578-269-6
3. Frisaldi E, Murelli V, Ramani D. Naturale è bello? La scienza dei rimedi naturali di bellezza. Sironi editore – Alpha Test, Galápagos, 2009. ISBN: 978-88-518-0104-5

Translations - Book curatorship

1. Translator from English-to-Italian of the book Placebo effects: Understanding the mechanisms in health and disease, Second Edition, by Fabrizio Benedetti, Oxford University Press 2014. Fioriti Editore, 2016. ISBN: 978-8898991198
2. Curator of the book Marco Cavallo. Da un ospedale psichiatrico la vera storia che ha cambiato il modo di essere del teatro e della cura, by Giuliano Scabia. Alpha & Beta,180 Archivio critico della salute mentale, 2011. ISBN: 978-8872231562

1. Invited teacher at the Course of Molecular Pharmacology, University of Turin (Italy). “Placebo and nocebo effects. The mechanisms emerged from thirty years of neuroscientific investigation”, 25 May 2021.
2. Teacher assistant in “Functioning of the human body” - Physiology Course of the Nursing Degree Course of the University of Turin, Italy. 2020-2021 academic year.
3. External collaborator, Nursing Degree Course of the University of Turin. Disciplinary Scientific Sector: BIO/09 – Physiology. From September 2020 until September 2024.
4. External collaborator, Polytechnic University of Turin. Disciplinary Scientific Sector: BIO/09 – Physiology. From July 2020 until July 2023.
5. Teaching assistant and Subject expert in Pharmacological and psychophysiological bases of therapy, annual course of the Master’s degree of “Scienze del corpo e della mente”, University of Turin. Academic years: 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2017-2018, 2018-2019.
6. Supplemental educational services at the Physiology Course of the University of Turin Medical School. Academic years: 2012-2013, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019.
7. Invited teacher at the National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy. “Placebo effects in patients with chronic pain”, 2 hours lesson for postgraduate students of the Master degree in “Palliative Care”, March 16, 2019.
8. Invited teacher at the Milan Institute for health Care and Advanced Learning (Mi.CAL). “A journey into the science of mind over body: the placebo effect”, 4 hours lesson for postgraduate students of the Master degree in “Psychosomatic Medicine”, December 1, 2018.
9. Invited teacher at the Department for the Earth, Environment and Life Sciences (DiSTAV) of the University of Genoa. “The neuroscience of the healing health worker-patient relationship”, 4 hours lesson for postgraduate students of the Master degree in “Biologist-Nutritionist”, May 25, 2018.
10. Teacher assistant in Human Physiology Course of the Nursing Degree Course of Aosta, Italy. November 2016 - February 2017.
11. Teacher assistant in Human Physiology Course of the Nursing Degree Course of Aosta, Italy. November 2014 - February 2015.
12. Teacher assistant in Human Physiology Course of the Nursing Degree Course of Aosta, Italy. November 2013 - February 2014.

Research topics

Elisa Frisaldi, PhD, is a human geneticist and a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience of the University of Turin Medical School, Italy. She also earned the SISSA Master in Science Communication, Trieste, Italy. Her research focuses on higher cognitive functions, especially those taking part in the placebo response in pain, Parkinson disease and Myasthenia gravis. Her work places a particular emphasis on the integration between neurobiological mechanisms underlying the placebo effects and both their clinical applications and their potential ethical and social implications.

In March 2015, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis assigned to Elisa Frisaldi and co-authors the William S. Kroger Award for the best paper on Hypnosis, Health and Behavioral Medicine. Her oral presentation at the 9th Congress of the European Pain Federation EFIC® (Vienna, Austria, September 2015), titled “Pain and the context”, was selected among the best and most interesting presentations of the congress. Since February 2016 she has belonged to the Young Against Pain (YAP) Italian group, which supports the best young Italian researchers in pain.

Research groups

• Placebo Responses Mapping

Activities in agenda

See my calendar