Curriculum

Titoli accademici

Feb 2013 – Feb 2017      PhD in Psychology, University of Portsmouth, U.K.
Oct 2010 – July 2012      MSc in Clinical Animal Behaviour, University of Lincoln, U.K.
Sept 2002 – Nov 2009    Doctor in Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, ITALY
Jan 2019 – 2023:          Resident ECAWBM(BM)
Sept 2020:         Cultore della Materia per l’insegnamento di fisiologia, comportamento e benessere del cane e del gatto nella relazione con l’uomo

Formazione professionale

Febbraio 2020 – presente: Assegnista di Ricerca (tipo A), Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Milano, ITALIA
Agosto 2018 – presente: Medico Veterinario Esperto in Comportamento Animale e Interventi Assistiti con gli Animali
Febbraio 2018 – 2020: Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, U.K.
Aprile 2017 – Giugno 2019: Assistant research fellow, Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HUNGARY
Sett – Dic 2012: Medico Veterinario, Milano, ITALY
Maggio – Sept 2011: Research technician, Department of Life Science, University of Lincoln, U.K.
Agosto2010: Internship, Ospedale Veterinario San Siro, Milan, ITALY
Maggio – Giugno 2010: Internship, Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital, University of Cambridge Veterinary School, U.K.
Dic 2009 – Sett 2010:  Medico Veterinario Ambulatorio veterinario Wildt, Milan, ITALY

Premi e borse di studio

  • Mark L. Morris Junior. Investigator Award della Morris Animal Foundation, Co-Principal Investigator, “The role of chronic inflammation on behavior and cognition of aging cats”
  • Premio Rudy De Meester ESVCE (2020-2021), Principal Investigator, “A prospective study on the COVID-19 impact on the quality of life of humans and pets: the role of personality”
  • Post-doc Research bursary type A (2020-2024), Department of Veterinary Medicine, Sector of Veterinary Physiology, University of Milan, Italy
  • ASAB Conference Grant (2015), ASAB Easter Conference, Durham, U.K.
  • PhD Bursary (2013-2017), Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, U.K.
  • Guest student (2013), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GERMANY
  • School Prize for the Best Overall Performance on the MSc in Clinical Animal Behaviour (2012), School of Life Science, University of Lincoln, U.K

Attività didattica

2019-2023: supervisione tesi e marking MSc thesis Clinical Animal Behaviour (University of Edinburgh, UK); Tesi di Master in Etologia ed evoluzione (Università di Torino, Italy), Tesi di Master in Biodiversità ed Evoluzione Biologica (Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy)

2018-2019: Undergraduate thesis in biology (ELTE, Budapest, Hungary)

2013-2017: Teaching support for the undergraduate Psychology course (University of Portsmouth, UK), including demonstrations (subjects: Research Methods and Analysis, Human and Animal Behaviour, Applied Cognition), teaching at seminars (subjects: Psychological Research Methods, Data Analysis) and marking coursework (subjects: Psychological Research Methods; Research Methods & Analysis)

2019-2020: invited lecture, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Course of Physiology and ethology, University of Milan, Italy, canine comparative cognition

2018: invited talk, AIECI workshop, Behavioural changes and assessment of ageing dogs

2016: invited lecture, Brinsbury Campus, Chichester College, U.K., titled Dog Cognition and Research

2015: invited seminar, Sparsholt College, U.K., titled Helping in Dogs

2011: invited lecture, University of Milan, Veterinary School, Italy, feline behaviour development and behaviour problems

Attività didattica e divulgativa non accademica

2020-presente lezioni per corsi professionali sugli Interventi Assistiti con gli Animali presso Il Girasole, Natura Animale, FormaLabor

2019-presente lezioni sull’invecchiamento e la personalità del cane per il centro Dog’s Angels (Mestre) di Antonio Agus

2020 lezioni sull’invecchiamento del cane per il centro di formazione Il Mio Cane (Milano) di Eleonora Mentaschi e contributo all’incontro “Il cane a 360 gradi”

2017-presente lezioni di metodi di etologia e ricerca cognitiva nel cane per il centro Ellenico dell’Educazione e il Comportamento del Cane (Atene, Grecia) del Dr Christos Karagiannis

2017 presentazione sulle capacità cognitive del cane presso il III Congresso Gentle Team (AL) di Alexa Capra

Pubblicazioni scientifiche

Articoli publicati in riviste scientifiche peer-reviewed:

  1. Piotti, P., Pierantoni, L., Albertini, M., & Pirrone, F. (2023). Inflammation and Behavior Changes in Dogs and Cats. Veterinary Clinics: Small Animal Practice.
  2. Wrightson, R., Albertini, M., Pirrone, F., McPeake, K., & Piotti, P. (2023). The Relationship between Signs of Medical Conditions and Cognitive Decline in Senior Dogs. Animals, 13(13), 2203.
  3. Pirrone, Federica, Patrizia Piotti, Massimo Galli, Roberto Gasparri, Aldo La Spina, Lorenzo Spaggiari, and Mariangela Albertini. Sniffer dogs performance is stable over time in detecting COVID-19 positive samples and agrees with the rapid antigen test in the field. Scientific Reports 13, no. 1 (2023): 3679.
  4. Borrelli, Carmen, Giacomo Riggio, Tiffani Josey Howell, Patrizia Piotti, Silvana Diverio, Mariangela Albertini, Paolo Mongillo et al. The Cat–Owner Relationship: Validation of the Italian C/DORS for Cat Owners and Correlation with the LAPS. Animals 13, no. 1 (2022): 69.
  5. Piotti, P., Piseddu, A., Aguzzoli, E., Sommese, A., & Kubinyi, E. (2022). Two valid and reliable tests for monitoring age-related memory performance and neophobia differences in dogs. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-10.
  6. Piotti, P., Albertini, M., & Pirrone, F. (2022). Peripheral Concentration of Amyloid-β, TAU Protein, and Neurofilament Light Chain as Markers of Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome in Senior Dogs: A Meta-analysis. Advances in Small Animal Care, 3(1), 23-38.
  7. Piotti, P., Albertini, M., Lavesi, E., Ferri, A., & Pirrone, F. (2022). Physiotherapy improves dogs’ quality of life measured with the Milan pet quality of life scale: is pain involved? Veterinary sciences, 9(7), 335.
  8. Pierantoni, L., Albertini, M., Piotti, P., Ripamonti, G., Pocar, P., Borromeo, V., & Pirrone, F. (2022). Signs of Anxiety and Salivary Copeptin Levels in Dogs Diagnosed with Separation-Related Problems in a Short Separation Test. Animals, 12(15), 1974.
  9. Riggio, Borrelli, Piotti, Grondona, Gazzano, Di Iacovo, Fatjó, Bowen, Mota-Rojas, Pirrone, Mariti (2022) Cat–Owner Relationship and Cat Behaviour: Effects of the COVID-19 Confinement and Implications for Feline Management. Veterinary sciences 9, no. 7: 369.
  10. Duarte Cardoso, S., da Graça Pereira, G., de Sousa, L., Faraco, C. B., Piotti, P., & Pirrone, F. (2022). Factors behind the relinquishment of dogs and cats by their guardians in Portugal. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 1-12.
  11. Riggio, G., Piotti, P., Diverio, S., Borrelli, C., Di Iacovo, F., Gazzano, A., Howell, T.J., Pirrone, F. and Mariti, C., (2021). The dog–owner relationship: Refinement and validation of the italian c/dors for dog owners and correlation with the laps. Animals, 11(8), p.2166.
  12. Piotti P, Albertini M, Trabucco LP, Ripari L, Karagiannis C, Bandi C, Pirrone F. (2021) Personality and Cognitive Profiles of Animal-Assisted Intervention Dogs and Pet Dogs in an Unsolvable Task, Animals 11, no. 7: 2144. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11072144, IF = 2.752
  13. Piotti P, Karagiannis C, Satchell L, Michelazzi M, Albertini M, Alleva E, Pirrone F (2021) Use of the Milan Pet Quality of Life Instrument (MPQL) to Measure Pets’ Quality of Life during COVID-19, Animals 11 (5), 1336 https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051336 IF = 2.752
  14. Bognar Zs., Piotti P., Szabo D., Le Nezet L., Kubinyi E., (2020) A novel behavioural approach to assess responsiveness to auditory and visual stimuli before cognitive testing in family dogs, Applied Animal Behaviour Science: 228, 1, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105016 IF (2020) = 2.2448
  15. Piotti P., Uccheddu S., Alliani M., Mariti C., Nuti V., Ogi A., Pierantoni L., Gazzano A., (2019) Management of specific fears and anxiety in the behavioral medicine of companion animals: punctual use of psychoactive medications, Dog Behavior: 2, 23-30, doi: 10.4454/db.v5i2.109
  16. Piotti P., Szabó D., Bognár Zs., Egerer A., Hulsbosch P., Carson R. S., Kubinyi E. (2018) Effect of age on discrimination learning, reversal learning, and cognitive bias in family dogs, Learning & Behaviour, (2018): 1-17, https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-018-0357-7 IF (2018) = 1.481
  17. Czeibert K., Piotti P., Petneházy O., Kubinyi E. (2018). Sulci of the canine brain: a review of terminology, bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/374744 (pre-print)
  18. Piotti, P., Satchell, L., & Lockhart, T. (2018). Impulsivity and behaviour problems in dogs: A Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory perspective. Behavioural Processes, 151(104-110), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2018.03.012 IF (2018) = 1.746 – links to pre-print and questionnaire (pre-validation version)
  19. Piotti P. (2017) Positive emotions and quality of life in dogs. Animal Sentience, 14(17)
  20. Piotti P., Szabó D., Wallis L., Bognár Zs., Stiegmann B, Egerer A., Marty P., Kubinyi E. (2017) The effect of age on visuo-spatial short-term memory in family dogs. Pet Behaviour Science, v04, https://doi.org/10.21071/pbs.v0i4.10130.
  21. Piotti, P., Spooner, R., Jim, H.L., Kaminski, J. (2017) Who to ask for help? Do dogs distinguish between a skilled an unskilled demonstrator? Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 195(93-102) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2017.05.024 IF(2017) = 1.771
  22. Piotti, P., Spooner, R., Kaminski, J. (2016) Who will be my helper? Dog behavior, 2(3), s-93, http://dx.doi.org/10.4454/db.v2i3.44
  23. Piotti, P., & Kaminski, J. (2016). Do Dogs Provide Information Helpfully? PloS one, 11(8), e0159797, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159797 IF(2016) = 3.2
  24. Kaminski, J., Piotti, P. (2016). Current Trends in Dog-Human Communication: Do Dogs Inform? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25(5), 322-326, 10.1177/0963721416661318 IF(2016) = 5.545
  25. Cannas, S., Berteselli, G. V., Piotti, P., Talamonti, Z., Scaglia, E., Stefanello, D., Minero, M., & Palestrini, C. (2016). Stress and cancer in dogs: comparison between a population of dogs diagnosed with cancer and a control population – a pilot study. Macedonian Veterinary Review, 39 (2), i-viii, https://doi.org/10.1515/macvetrev-2016-0088

Presentazioni a congressi scientifici internazionali peer-reviewed:

  1. P. Piotti, H. Memoli, I. Grader, P. Scarpa, E. Biffi, M. Albertini, C. Siracusa, F. Pirrone, House-soiling predicts spatial memory performance in senior cats. Long Oral communication. 5th European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, 19th-20th October 2023, Pisa, Italy
  2. P. Piotti, H. Memoli, I. Grader, P. Scarpa, E. Biffi, M. Albertini, C. Siracusa, F. Pirrone, Feline cognitive decline predicts the cognitive performance in the unsolvable task in senior cats. Oral communication. 75 Convengno SISVET, 21-23 June 2023, Bari, IT
  3. H Memoli, P Piotti, I Grader, P Scarpa, M Albertini, F Pirrone, C Siracusa, Body condition score and some metabolic biomarkers predicts early signs of age-related cognitive changes in cats. Veterinary Behavior Symposium, 14th June 2023, Marriot Philadelphia, US
  4. P. Piotti, H. Memoli, P. Scarpa, I. Grader, M. Albertini, C. Siracusa, F. Pirrone, Signs of feline cognitive dysfunction are predicted by cognitive testing and serum parameters: preliminary data. Oral communication. 4th European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, 28 Settembre – 1 Ottobre 2022, Palma, Majorca, Spain
  5. P. Piotti, K. McPeake, F. Pirrone, D.S. Mills. Convergent validity between four dog psychometric instruments in Italian and English. Oral communication. European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, 28 Settembre – 1 Ottobre 2022, Palma, Majorca, Spain
  6. F. Pirrone, P. Piotti, M. Albertini, G. Ripamonti, P. Pocar, V. Borromeo, L. Pierantoni, separation–related problems in companion dogs: behavioural and physiological measures of anxiety. Oral communication. 4th European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, 28 Settembre – 1 Ottobre 2022, Palma, Majorca, Spain
  7. G. Riggio, P. Piotti, C. Borrelli, F. Di Iacovo, A. Grondona, A. Gazzano, C. Mariti, the effect of covid-19 confinement on the behavioural problems of domestic cats in Italy. Oral communication. 4th European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, 28 Settembre – 1 Ottobre 2022, Palma, Majorca, Spain.
  8. R. Wrightson, K. Mcpeake, P. Piotti. Relationship between signs of medical conditions and cognitive decline in senior dogs. Poster presentation. 4th European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, 28 Settembre – 1 Ottobre 2022, Palma, Majorca, Spain.
  9. Piotti P, Memoli H, Grader I, Scarpa P, Albertini M, Siracusa C, Pirrone F, Spatial memory and serum alanino transferase predict differences in signs of cognitive decline in a group of senior cats, Oral communication. 75 Convengno SISVET, 15-18 Giugno 2022, Lodi, IT
  10. Piotti, Karagiannis, Satchell, Michelazzi, Albertini, Alleva, Pirrone, The role of personality, pet-owner relationship, and COVID-19 on human quality of life. Long oral presentation 3rd Annual Meeting of the European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, 7th-9th October 2021 (online)
  11. Michelazzi M., Piotti P., Talamonti Z., Effectiveness of a nutraceutical (Rifoson) on fear-related behaviour in dogs. Poster presented at the 3rd Annual Meeting of the European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, 7th-9th October 2021 (online)
  12. Piotti, P., Karagiannis, C., Satchell, L., Michelazzi, M., Albertini, M., Alleva, E., Pirrone, F. (2020) Demographics, personality, and relationship with owners affected pets’ quality of life during COVID-19 lockdown, Online Meeting of the European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare. 10-11 Dicembre 2020
  13. Piotti P., Michelazzi M., Galbiati G., Festa M. What features are important for Quality of Life models to guide decision making in behaviour cases? Poster presentation. 2nd Annual Meeting of the European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 26-28 September 2019
  14. Michelazzi M., Piotti P., Galbiati G., Festa M. Adapting a Quality of Life model based on the Personal Outcome Index to veterinary behaviour medicine: a case study. Poster presentation. 2nd Annual Meeting of the European Veterinary Congress of Behavioural Medicine and Animal Welfare, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 26-28 September 2019
  15. Aguzzoli E., Piseddu A., Kubinyi E, Piotti P. Test-retest validation of a short battery of test for the behavioural assessment of ageing pet dogs. Poster presentation. 6th European Student Conference on Behaviour & Cognition, Padua, Italy, 4-7 September 2019
  16. Gunde E, Czeibert K, Piotti P, Arany-Tóth A, Kubinyi E. Ventriculomegaly in dogs trained for fMRI studies: findings and future objectives. Poster presentation. 31st Annual Symposium of the ESVN-ECVN, Copenhagen, Denmark, 20-22 September 2018
  17. Piotti, P., Szabó D., Wallis L., Bognár Z., Egerer A., Stiegmann B., Marosi S., Kubinyi E. Testing cognitive changes in ageing family dogs. Poster Presentation. UFAW 2018 “Animal Welfare across Borders”, City University of Hong Kong. 25-26, October 2018
  18. Piotti P., Szabo D, Wallis L, Bognar Zs, Egerer A, Stiegmann B, Marosi S, Kubinyi E. Development of behaviour tests for age-related cognitive decline in family dogs. Oral presentation. 1st ECBMAW meeting, Berlin, Germany, 27-30 September 2018
  19. Czeibert K, Piotti P, Kubinyi E, Petneháty Ö. Review of the terminology of dogs’ (Canis familiaris) main cortical structures. Poster presentation 32nd Congress of the European Association of Veterinary Anatomists, Hannover, Germany, July 25-28, 2018
  20. Bognár Z, Piotti P, Szabó D, Le Nézet L, Kubinyi E. Assessment of age-related decline of stimulus-responsiveness in dogs. 6th Canine Science Forum, Budapest, Hungary, 3-6 July, 2018 5. Czeibert K, Gunde E, Piotti P, Kubinyi E. Longitudinal assessment of ventriculomegaly in dogs trained for fMRI studies. Poster presentation. 6th Canine Science Forum, Budapest, Hungary, 3-6 July, 2018
  21. Marosi S, Piotti P, Szabó D, Wallis L, Bognár Z, Stiegmann B, Egerer A, Marty P, Hemző V, Kubinyi E. Performance in a problem solving task in old and young family dogs. Poster presentation. 6th Canine Science Forum, Budapest, Hungary, 3-6 July, 2018
  22. Czeibert K, Gunde E, Piotti P, Kubinyi E. Age related ventriculomegaly in dogs trained to lay in an fMRI. Poster presentation. 1st Brainstorming Research Assembly for Young Neuroscientists, Genoa, Italy, 29-30 June 2018
  23. Piotti P, Szabo D, Wallis L, Bognar Zs, Egerer A, Stiegmann B, Marosi S, Kubinyi E. Family dogs as a model for the study of age-related cognitive decline. Poster presentation. 1st Brainstorming Research Assembly for Young Neuroscientists, Genoa, Italy, 29-30 June 2018
  24. Kubinyi E, Szabó D, Wallis L, Iotchev I, Sándor S, Czeibert K, Egerer A, Bognár Z, Tátrai K, Turcsán B, Piotti P. Senior Family Dog Project: studying cognitive ageing in dogs using an interdisciplinary approach. Oral presentation. 6th Canine Science Forum, Budapest, Hungary, 3-6 July, 2018
  25. Piotti P., Szabó D, Wallis L, Bognár Z, Egerer A, Stiegmann B, Marosi S, Kubinyi E. Age effects on cognitive performance of family dogs. Oral presentation. 6th Canine Science Forum, Budapest, Hungary, 3-6 July, 2018
  26. Piotti P., Szabó D., Wallis L., Bognár Zs., Stiegmann B, Egerer A., Marty P., Kubinyi E. (2017) A novel test for visuospatial short-term memory in dogs. Oral presentation. XIX Conference of the Hungarian Ethological Society, 1st-3rd December, Dobókő, Hungary.
  27. Szabó D., Bognár Zs., Stiegmann B., Egerer A., Marosi S., Hemző V., Deés A., Piotti P., Wallis L., Miklósi Á., Kubinyi E. (2017) Neophilia in successfully ageing dogs. Poster presentation. XIX Conference of the Hungarian Ethological Society, 1st-3rd December, Dobókő, Hungary.
  28. Piotti P., Szabó D., Wallis L., Bognár Zs., Stiegmann B, Egerer A., Marty P., Kubinyi E. (2017) The effect of age on visuo-spatial short-term memory in family dogs. Short communication. 1st Pet Behaviour Science Open Conference, 24th November.
  29. Piotti P. *, Bognár Zs. *, Szabo D., Le Nézet L., Kubinyi E. (2017) Assessment of age-related decline of stimulus-responsiveness in dogs. Poster presentation. 30th Annual Symposium of the European Society of Veterinary Neurology and the European College of Veterinary Neurology, 21-24th September, Helsinki, Finland. *These authors contributed equally to this work
  30. Piotti, P., Spooner R., Kaminski, J. (2016) Who will be my helper? Poster presentation. Proceedings of the 5th Canine Science Forum (CSF), Padua, Italy.
  31. Satchell, L., Lockhart, T., Piotti, P. (2016) Evidence for Similarities between Human and Dog Measures of Individual Differences. Poster presentation. Proceedings of the European Congress of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine, Cascais, Portugal.
  32. Piotti, P., Berteselli, G., Palestrini, C. (2011) Stress related behaviours in a population of dogs with cancer. Poster presentation. Proceedings of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine (ECAWBM) annual conference, Avignon, France.

Researcher unique identifiers: ORCID, ResearcherID, GoogleScholar, Scopus
Citations: 247
H-index: 10
i10-index: 11