Nicolò Pini, PhD

Nicolò Pini, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Developmental Sciences in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. With training in biomedical engineering and developmental neuroscience, his work focuses on identifying early neurodevelopmental biomarkers of autism through longitudinal natural history studies in genetically characterized cohorts. His expertise lies in advanced signal processing and machine learning applied to physiological signals, with a particular emphasis on sleep physiology and brain function assessed via electroencephalography (EEG), to uncover mechanistic pathways linking early-life physiology to later autism outcomes. Dr. Pini serves as a biomarker expert across several large-scale clinical and research initiatives, including the Prospective Genetic Risk Evaluation and Assessment (PROGRESS) Autism Center of Excellence at Columbia University, the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, and the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, where physiological signals are characterized across development, beginning in the neonatal period. He is deeply engaged with patient advocacy groups and family foundations, regularly participating in family meetings and community-facing initiatives. His work is driven by a commitment to developing scalable, low-burden approaches for physiological data collection both within and beyond traditional laboratory settings, with the goal of advancing early identification and intervention in autism.