Primary activity: Biophotonics: Development and application of single-molecule, super-resolution fluorescence microscopy techniques. Through these techniques I study the biophysics of biomolecules in vitro, in cells and in thick samples. Development of Optical Tweezers with application to the study of biomolecules interacting with DNA and cytoskeletal polymers. Combination of optical manipulation with Optical Tweezers and optical microscopy to study mechanotransduction at the cellular level. I work in close collaboration with clinical groups (Meyer and the ’Mario Serio’ Department of Biomedical, Experimental and Clinical Sciences) and other departments of the University of Florence (Molecular and Cellular Mechanobiology Lab of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, DAGRI and Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Clinica). International collaborations. Supervision of PhD students (LENS) and PoStDocs. Management and participation in national and international projects. Technology transfer.

Main experiences acquired: Development of advanced optical techniques. Application to biological samples in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Development of nanoparticle detection systems. Data analysis. Writing projects. Dissemination. Teaching in bachelor’s and master’s degree courses. Project coordination. Participation in working groups such as the Gender Equality Plan (LENS) group and INO OpenScience working group. Technology transfer.

Research Groups:
3D multicolor super-resolution microscopy of thick samples
EXPANSION-PALM of thick samples

Publications, Research Results, now, in INO’s database are: 10
  –   Papers JCR/ISI Journals, are: 8
  –   Books or Chapters, are: 2
  –   Papers in Journals not indexed JCR/ISI, are: 0
  –   Conference proceedings, are: 3
  –   Abstract, are: 5

Bibliometric indices are calculated USING ONLY THE INO DATABASE and the number of citations from “WEB OF SCIENCE” (of Thomson Reuters) is updated at 2024-07-21
  –   maximum number of citations for an article: 38
  –   maximum impact factor (IF) for a journal when an article is published: 11.878
  –   H-INDEX: 7   G-INDEX: 8   HC-INDEX (contemporary): 5 
  –   List of TopTen papers in citations  –   List of TopTen journals in Impact Factor