Name

Research focus

Francesco Lorenzi
PhD Student,
(Prof. L. Salasnich Lab., PHYS-04)
DFA, UNIPD
____________________
FNIP topic: T3

Francesco Lorenzi is currently a final-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Padova. His primary research focuses on the theory of nonlinear dynamics in optical systems and ultracold gases. In this area, he develops analytical and numerical methods to study spatio-temporal solitary waves in both optical fibers and Bose–Einstein condensates [1], as well as the effect of quantum fluctuations in Josephson dynamics [2]. He is also interested in nonrelativistic scattering theory, with applications to both the static and dynamic properties of ultracold gases, and in numerical simulations of physical and engineering systems (see github page for more information). He earned his masters degree in ICT-photonic engineering from the University of Padova, with a theoretical thesis on nonlinearity-induced noise in fiber-optic communications [3].
[1] Variational approach to multimode nonlinear optical fibers
[2] Quantum fluctuations in atomic Josephson junctions: the role of dimensionality
[3] Nonlinear interference noise in Raman-amplified WDM systems

Matteo Bruzzone
Post Doc
____________________
FNIP topics: T2, T3

Matteo Bruzzone is post doc at the Department of Biology of the University of Fribourg, CH. He earned his M.Sc. degree in Neuroscience from the University of Trieste, IT. During his Ph.D. at the University of Padova, IT, he investigated visuo-motor transformation in zebrafish larvae using both behavioural assays and multi-photons calcium imaging [1]. Moreover, he is interested in the integration between brain structural and functional information [2] and computational approaches applied to brain networks [3]. He is currently investigating how dietary habits shape gut-brain circuits in different Drosophila species.
[1] Whole brain functional recordings at cellular resolution in zebrafish larvae with 3D scanning multiphoton microscopy
[2] Hypothalamic Galanin-producing neurons regulate stress in zebrafish through a peptidergic, self-inhibitory loop
[3] A network-based method for extracting the organization of brain-wide circuits from reconstructed connectome datasets 

Andrea Vogliardi
PhD Student,
(Prof. F. Romanato Lab., PHYS-03)
DFA, UNIPD
____________________
FNIP topics: T1, T2

Andrea Vogliardi is currently a final-year Ph.D Student at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova. He obtained his master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pisa, and then he joined the Nanodevices group (Prof. Romanato). His main research interests focus on the design, simulation and test of multifunctional metasurfaces for the generation and manipulation of structured light both at the classical and single-photon regime, with applications to microscopy, optical tweezing, trapping and telecommunication. [1] Recently, he has developed new structured beams for the total control of phase amplitude and polarization in space.[2] [3] He is also interested in the optical characterization of biological samples through multi-photon microscopy.
[1] Dual-functional metalenses for the polarization-controlled generation of focalized vector beams in the telecom infrared
[2] Helico-conical vector beams for intensity and polarization 3D light shaping
[3] Azimuthally-variant perfect vector beams for the control of arbitrary phase and polarization ring patterns

Anna Archetti
RTDA, Temporary Assistant Professor,
(Experimental
Physics of Matter PHYS-03)
DFA, UNIPD
____________________
FNIP topics: T1, T3

Anna Archetti is an experimental physicist developing photonics components and optical systems for nanoscale optics, quantum optics and optical microscopy. Her research interest focuses on the interaction of light with nanometric and sub-nanometric objects (e.g. nanoscatters, molecules, atoms) for optical imaging applications. As Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow she worked on the development of a metasurface-based neuroimaging platform [1], a project in collaboration between Padova University (Prof. Dal Maschio laboratory) and EPFL. In 2020, she joined the Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technologies (LNET, Prof. Tagliabue) at EPFL as Postdoc to realize tunable metalenses [2]. She obtained her PhD in Photonics in 2019 at EPFL with a thesis in advanced fluorescence microscopy methods. She participated to the development of a large field of view superresolution microscope, on the development of 3D localization algorithms and I realized a waveguide platform for DNA-PAINT (Points Accumulation for Imaging in Nanoscale Topography) [3].
[1] A Single Sub-Millimetric Metasurface-Based Optical Element for Lattice Bessel Beam Excitation Enabling Brain Activity Recordings In Vivo
[2] Thermally-reconfigurable metalens
[3] Waveguide-PAINT offers an open platform for large field-of-view super-resolution imaging

Gianluca Ruffato
Associate Professor,
(Experimental
Physics of Matter PHYS-03, Nanodevices Laboratory)
DFA, UNIPD
____________________
FNIP topics: T1, T3

Gianluca Ruffato is an associate professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Padova. His main research interests include the design, simulation, and test of innovative optical elements specifically engineered to tame and customize the spatial configurations of structured light beams, with applications to microscopy, imaging, security, and telecommunications, both at the classical and single-photon regimes. In particular, he is experienced in the design of diffractive optics and dielectric metasurfaces for the generation, manipulation, and exploitation of optical beams carrying orbital angular momentum and other exotic states of light. He is also involved in vision science projects studying entoptic phenomena for diagnostic purposes, as well as prototyping and testing experimental setups for optometric applications. Previously, he obtained the Ph.D. in Physics from Padova University in 2012 with a thesis focused on the design and applications of plasmonic gratings for sensing devices.
[1] Multiplication and division of the orbital angular momentum of light with diffractive transformation optics
[2] Arbitrary Conformal Transformations of Wave Functions
[3] Helico-conical vector beams for intensity and polarization 3D light shaping

Nicoletta Plotegher
Assistant Professor,
(Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Lab)
DiBio, UNIPD
____________________
FNIP topics: T2, T3

Nicoletta Plotegher is studying the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration by applying imaging, biophysical and biochemical techniques in cellular and animal models. She obtained her Master degree in Physics at the University of Trento, doing the Master thesis internship at the CNR Institute of Biophysics. She then obtained her PhD in Biosciences at the University of Padova (Bubacco Lab) where she investigated the mechanisms of alpha-synuclein aggregation and toxicity in Parkinson’s disease. During her PhD and first postdoc she applied fluorescence microscopy methods to the study of protein dynamics and metabolism in live cells, at the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics, at University of California, Irvine, USA (Gratton Lab). Then she moved to the Cell and Developmental Biology Department at University College London, in UK (Duchen Lab), where she started working on mitochondria and calcium imaging in live neurons. Now, at University of Padova, she is currently leading a research line on neuronal function and dysfunction in physiological and pathological conditions.
[1] Number and Brightness analysis of alpha-synuclein oligomerization and the associated mitochondrial morphology alterations in live cells.
[2] Impaired cellular bioenergetics caused by GBA1 depletion sensitizes neurons to calcium overload.  
[3] DOPAL initiates αSynuclein-dependent impaired proteostasis and degeneration of neuronal projections in Parkinson’s disease.

Marco Brondi
CNR researcher,
CL Laboratory,
CNR Neuroscience Institute of Pisa
____________________
FNIP topics: T2, T3

Marco Brondi is presently working on the physiology of olfaction using in vivo two-photon imaging in awake behaving animals at VIMM (Fondazione Ricerca Biomedica Avanzata Onlus – VIMM, Claudia Lodovichi’s group, Padova, Italy). He spent the past 5 years at IIT (Italian Institute of Technology, Tommaso Fellin’s group, Genova, Italy) working on the development of a novel approach for fast and accurate two-photon imaging of neuronal dynamics and on a tool for automatic image segmentation and trace extraction from imaging data using deep learning. Dr. M. Brondi obtained the PhD in molecular biophysics from Scuola Normale Superiore (at NEST, National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology, Gian Michele Ratto’s lab, Pisa, Italy) working on the interplay between astrocytes and neurons in a model of epileptiform activity using in vivo two-photon imaging. He got his Bachelor and Master degree in Biology at Univeristà degli studi di Pisa (Italy), where he worked on post-transcriptional regulation of Leptin hormone.
[1] High-Accuracy Detection of Neuronal Ensemble Activity in Two-Photon Functional Microscopy Using Smart Line Scanning
[2] A deep-learning approach for online cell identification and trace extraction in functional two-photon calcium imaging
[3] Finding a Needle in a Haystack: Identification of EGFP Tagged Neurons during Calcium Imaging by Means of Two-Photon Spectral Separation

Letizia Mariotti
CNR researcher,
(Matteo Caleo – Giorgio Carmignoto Joint Lab)
CNR Neuroscience Institute of Padova
____________________
FNIP topics: T2

Letizia Mariotti is currently working as research scientist at the CNR Neuroscience Institute in Padova studying neuron-glia interactions by applying brain imaging techniques in behaving animals (Caleo-Carmignoto Joint Lab). Letizia obtained her Master degree in Molecular Neurobiology at the University of Pisa where she studied the role of chloride homeostasis for the function of inhibitory networks and disease such as epilepsy (NEST, Ratto Lab).  She obtained her PhD in Neurobiology at the University of Padova (Carmignoto Lab) where she investigated the mechanisms and the function of the GABAergic signalling between genetically identified classes of interneurons and astrocytes in the neocortex. In Padova, she mastered techniques to record and manipulate neuronal and astrocyte activity such as two-photon microscopy, optogenetics and patch clamp recordings. Then she moved to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology – Medical Research Council in Cambridge (Tripodi Lab) where she revealed new neural circuits governing goal directed head movements in the superior colliculus. To this aim she used a combination of behavioural approaches, calcium imaging, microendoscopy in freely moving animals, and electrophysiology.
[1] Genetically Defined Functional Modules for Spatial Orienting in the Mouse Superior Colliculus
[2] Interneuron-specific signaling evokes distinctive somatostatin-mediated responses in adult cortical astrocytes

Filippo Pisano
Associate Professor,
DFA, UNIPD
____________________
FNIP topics: T1, T2

Filippo Pisano is an associate professor at the University of Padua, Department of Physics and Astronomy “G. Galilei” and an affiliated researcher at the Padova Neuroscience Center. His research, funded by the ERC-StG project NEUROLIDAR, focuses on the development of label-free optical tools and methods to measure neural dynamics in the central nervous system. Filippo received his PhD from the Institute of Photonics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK (2017) where he worked on large scale opto-electronic interfaces with neural circuits in the mouse retina. He was a visiting scholar at the University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, US (2015). He was a Post-Doc (2017-2021) and a Researcher (2021-2023) at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia-Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies, where he worked on photonic neural interfaces based on tapered optical fiber probes.
[1] Vibrational fiber photometry: label-free and reporter-free minimally invasive Raman spectroscopy deep in the mouse brain
[2] Toward Plasmonic Neural Probes: SERS Detection of Neurotransmitters through Gold-Nanoislands-Decorated Tapered Optical Fibers with Sub-10 nm Gaps
[3] Depth-resolved fiber photometry with a single tapered optical fiber implant

Claudia Cecchetto
RTDA, Temporary Assistant Professor,
()
DSB, UNIPD
____________________
FNIP topics: T2, T3

Claudia Cecchetto is currently working in Neurochip Lab (Stefano Vassanelli’s group) at the Department of Biomedical Sciences of University of Padova, where she curates the management and works on H2020-EU projects SYNCH and NEUREKA. Her main research interests include in vivo electrophysiology, high-resolution CMOS-based electrical probes and two-photon microscopy applied to the study of neuronal networks in the brain, particularly in the somatosensory area. From 2018 to 2020, she spent 2 years at OIST Graduate University (Okinawa, Japan) in Bernd Kuhn’s Optical Neuroimaging Unit, where she learnt in vivo two-photon imaging using AAV sensors and VSD dyes. There, she completed her MSCA project GRACE, whose main aim was the simultaneous recording of two-photon imaging and high-resolution local field potentials from the mouse barrel cortex in response to whisker stimulations. She graduated in Physics in Padova and she obtained her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Department of Information Engineering in Padova, with a thesis on neuronal population encoding of sensory information in the rat barrel cortex studied through an innovative high-resolution brain-chip interface.
[1] Simultaneous Two-Photon Voltage or Calcium Imaging and Multi-Channel Local Field Potential Recordings
[2] Understanding the Effects of Anesthesia on Cortical Electrophysiological Recordings: A Scoping Review
[3] An Automated Method for Characterization of Evoked Single-Trial Local Field Potentials Recorded from Rat Barrel Cortex Under Mechanical Whisker Stimulation

Attilio Zilli

Attilio Zilli is an experimental physicist performing fundamental research in nanoscale optics, which studies the interaction of light with objects of nanometric size (e.g. nanoparticles), or materials structured at the nanometre scale (e.g. metasurfaces). He earned his M.Sc. degree in Physics from Sapienza – University of Rome and his Ph.D. from Cardiff University, under the joint supervision of Wolfgang Langbein and Paola Borri. His Ph.D. project focused on developing measurement and data analysis methods for assessing more thoroughly and quantitatively the scattering and absorption of light by single nano-objects – mainly plasmonic nanoparticles [1]. A. Zilli is now a post-doctoral researcher in Politecnico di Milano, where he works in the nano-optics group led by Michele Celebrano and Marco Finazzi. They are currently exploring new strategies for tailoring and exploiting the electromagnetic resonances supported by nanostructures to enhance and control nonlinear optical processes in microscopic volumes [2,3].

Michele Celebrano
and M. Finazzi Nano-optics laboratory,
PoliMI

Stefano Luin

Stefano Luin graduated in Physics from Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) and Pisa University (1999), and got his PhD in Physics from SNS (2005). He accomplished spectroscopy studies on correlated electron systems in semiconductor nanostructures also at Thales-CSF (France), Bell-Laboratories (NJ-USA), and Columbia University (NY-USA). Now an associate Professor at SNS, he carries out his research in experimental Biophysics at NEST laboratories, where he is the supervisor of spectroscopy and microscopy laboratories. He applies advanced spectroscopy, microscopy, and data analysis techniques for studying, e.g., properties, dynamics, interactions and application of nanoparticles, fluorescent proteins and other biomolecules, also in living cells and down to the single-molecule limit. His interests at present include dynamics and interactions of membrane receptors and vesicles in living cells, and applications in Nanomedicine of metallic and organic nanoclusters. He is a member of the faculty of the PhD program in Nanoscience at SNS

Associate Professor at Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) of Pisa