Resourceful and highly enthusiastic
research scientist with a diverse
cultural and multidisciplinary
background. A valuable team player
having contributed to scientific
research on fundamental and
translational projects in the UK,
Italy and the USA. I’m also an
effective communicator who enjoys
collaborating with, training and
learning from colleagues. I have
focused my career around four heavily
interconnected fields: Visual
Neuroscience, Neuro-electronic
interfacing, retinal rescue and
microscopy. Visual Neuroscience:
Focused on elucidated the intricacies
of the visual system, I have
investigated retinal and cortical
circuits using a variety of
approaches, including in vivo
electrophysiology, ex vivo
optophysiology/Multi-electrode arrays,
and immunohistochemistry. My
contributions focused mostly on the
influence of melanopsin signaling in
retinal coding. Neuro-electronic
interfacing: Dedicated to the seamless
integration of neural tissue (neurons,
glia, vascular system) with
computational equipment (electrodes,
nano-particles, optogenetics,
chemogenetics), I have investigated
the biophysical, molecular and
ultra-structural properties of this
interface in both fundamental and
translational projects. Retinal
rescue: Dedicated to the study and
treatment of retinal dystrophies, I
have worked on an array of
degeneration models (Diabetic
Retinopathy, P23H, CRX, RD1, RS1,
RD10, RCS), and investigated cutting
edge treatment strategies
(optogenetics, nano-particles,
bio-electronic prostheses, low
molecular weight compounds,
biologics). Microscopy: For the past
15 years, I have been at the forefront
of developing cutting-edge structural
and neurophysiological imaging
techniques. These innovative assays
have been successfully applied across
a diverse spectrum of scales: from
investigating intricate biological
interactions at the nanoscopic level
using electron microscopy to mapping
the complex neuro-glio-vascular
interactions of hundreds of retinal
cells through multiphoton imaging.