Francesco Saverio Pavone was born in Bari the 23th March 1962. In 1989 he obtained his Laurea degree in Physics at the University of Florence. In 1990 he became Research Officer at the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (University of Florence). In 1993 he obtained a Ph.D. in Optics at the National Institute for Optics (Florence, Italy). In 1997 he spent one year and half as Maitre de Conférences Associe au College de France, Paris, with experimental work at the Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) of Paris with Prof. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Nobel price in Physics). In 1998 he became associate Professor of physics at the department of physics of the University of Perugia, Italy and Scientific director of the section of Atomic and Molecular Physics at the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS), Florence, Italy. In 2001 he moved as associate professor to the university of Florence (Dept. of Physics) and became scientific responsible of the biophysics/biophotonics laboratory of the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (Florence, Italy). In 2004 he became full professor.

Leonardo Sacconi obtained the Master Degree in Physics in 2001 at the University of Florence. His research activity is detailed below.

2000-2001: Undergraduate student at the Biophysical Lab at the European Laboratory of Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, (group leader: Prof. Francesco S. Pavone). During this period he developed a 3D magneto-optic manipulator for single bio molecule application. This novel manipulator was realized combining an optical trap with a 3D magnetic manipulator.

2001-2004: Degree student in Physics at the Biophysical Lab at LENS (supervisors: Prof. Renzo Antolini and Prof. Francesco S. Pavone). In the course of his PhD work he developed a multi-spot multi-photon microscope and a second-harmonic generation microscope. These imaging techniques were then used directly or in combination with optical manipulation techniques (laser dissection and optical tweezers) for the study of the mitotic spindle dynamics and the nucleus positioning in yeast cells.

2004- 2005: Visiting scientist, School of Applied & Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA (group leader: Prof. Watt W. Webb). During his visit, he examined the signal and photodamage (PD) of second-harmonic generation (SHG) imaging of cultured Aplysia neurons loaded with a voltage sensitive dye. He applied my new understanding of PD to increase the signal to noise of optical SHG recording of action potentials.

2005-2011. Post-doc at the Biophotonics Lab at LENS (group leader: Prof. Francesco S. Pavone). He worked in several research projects focused on the in vivo functional imaging of brain by nonlinear microscopy.

2011-present. Researcher at the National Institute of Optics - CNR. He is developing innovative imaging methodologies for an increased understanding of biological events in cells, tissues and living animals.

Francesco Vanzi obtained his masters degree in Biology at the University of Florence in 1994 (advisor Prof. Vincenzo Lombardi), and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics with Dr. Yale E. Goldman at the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. He had research visits to the laboratory of Dr. David R. Trentham (NIMR, Mill Hill, London in 1996), Dr. Måns Ehrenberg (Uppsala University, Sweden in 2001) and Dr. Kathleen S. Matthews (Rice University, Houston TX in 2007).
Since 2002 he works in the biophysics laboratory (P.I. Prof. Francesco S. Pavone) at LENS. He has been Ricercatore a tempo determinato at INFM (2002-2004) and at the Department of Evolutionary Biology of the University of Florence (2005-2011).
His work is focussed on single molecule biophysics. At LENS he works on methods for the study of protein/DNA interaction, single molecule detection in living cells and second-harmonic generation microscopy applied to the study of protein conformation in living cells.

Dimitrios Kapsokalyvas received his degree in physics and his M.Sc. degree in Optoelectronics from the University of Crete, Greece. During his post-graduate studies he worked on the photodynamic treatment of leukemic cells and he investigated the specificity and localization of novel photosensitizers. Shortly after receiving his MSc he moved to Heidelberg, Germany where he worked in the Max-Planck Institut für Medizinische Forschung on a theoretical model of nonlinear photobleaching in multiphoton excitation. In 2007 he joined the Biophotonics group (Pavone group) of LENS, University of Florence, Italy as a Ph.D. candidate. He received his Ph.D. in 2011 from LENS with a thesis entitled ‘In-vivo imaging of human skin. Macroscopic and microscopic optical investigation of skin diseases'. He is currently working as a post-doc in the Biophotonics group of Prof. Francesco Pavone. His scientific interest is in developing novel imaging techniques for imaging biological tissues with particular interest for skin.

After obtaining a graduation degree in Biology at the University of Florence, Martino Calamai worked in the laboratory of Fabrizio Chiti and Massimo Stefani on protein misfolding and aggregation. He later moved to the lab of Chris Dobson at the University of Cambridge for a PhD in Chemistry, and then to the group of Antoine Triller at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris) for a post-doc in Neuroscience. He has recently joined the Biophysics group of Francesco Pavone at LENS, where he is using biophotonic instruments and technologies to challenge problems related to human pathologies, in particular Alzheimer's disease.

Anna Letizia Allegra Mascaro obtained the Bachelor Degree in Chemistry in 2005 at the University of Florence. She obtained the Master Degree in Chemistry of Biological Molecules in 2007; her research project was focused on the set up of a TIRFM apparatus for detection of single molecules of biological interest, applied to the tweak of an ultra-sensitive biosensor. She was then enrolled in the PhD program in Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy on a project concerning in vivo two-photon imaging of neuronal network plasticity in genetically modified animals. She obtained the PhD in 2011 with a thesis entitled "Reactive strtuctural plasticity of climbing fibers after laser axotomy". Now she a Post-Doc at the European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy.

Riccardo Cicchi received his Master Degree in physics in 2003 at the University of Florence, working on skeletal muscle myosin mechanics, using a multiple optical tweezers setup. In 2007 he got his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Florence with a thesis titled "Non-linear imaging of human skin". His research involved multiphoton microscopy imaging of human skin tissue, in particular functional imaging of skin cancer and the study of the effects caused by the application of Optical Clearing Agents in two photon microscopy. Now he is a Post-Doc at European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy. His research involves ex vivo and in vivo multiphoton microscopy and lifetime imaging of diseased tissues. He strictly collaborates with medical expertises, including dermatologists, urologists, ophtalmologists, anatomo-pathologists. His activity is mainly focused on skin imaging, but it involves also other kinds of human tissues such as cornea, bladder, and colon.

Blaine obtained the Bachelor of Arts degree in Molecular Biology from Pomona College in Claremont, California in 2005. Her research carried out at Pomona College was focused on membrane receptor neurobiology and electrophysiology in hippocampal learning and memory. After leaving Pomona, Blaine joined the lab of Joachim Seemann in the Cell Biology Department of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas where she gained expertise in membrane and protein biology, especially relating to the Golgi apparatus organelle and its roles regulating the cell cycle and cell polarization. Blaine joined the Biophysics and Biophotonics Lab of Francesco Pavone in 2008 as a LENS International PhD candidate in "Spettroscopia Atomica e Molecolare." She has recently been awarded a post-doc fellowship by the Fondazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (FIRC). Her work at LENS addresses the interconnected roles of the plasma membrane, intracellular signaling, and the reorganization of cellular structural components and organelles during cell polarization and migration. This research is facilitated by the use of light-based manipulation tools and advanced imaging techniques developed here in the Pavone lab.

Carina Monico graduated in Biology at the University of Coimbra, Portugal in 2005. In 2006 she started her PhD in the biophotonics group at LENS as an Atlas Marie Curie Early Stage Training fellow. Her PhD project was focused on the implementation of single-molecule detection and manipulation techniques applied to gene expression and regulation. She is now a post-doc at the group since 2010. 

Presentazione

Jacopo Lotti is a PhD Student at the European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence, since 2009. He is working in Prof. Francesco S. Pavone's Lab in the field of biopyisics/biophotonics and nonlinear microscopy applied mostly to Neuroscience. In 2008 he got his Master Degree in Medical Biotechnology working since 2007 on the project "Optical recording of electrical activity in intact neuronal networks with random access second-harmonic generation microscopy" (Sacconi et al., 2008) at LENS, University of Florence, in Prof. Francesco S. Pavone's Lab; Prof. Pavone has been the supervisor of his Master Degree thesis.

Experiences:

2009 - present          Ph.D. Student, International Ph.D. in "Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy" - Biophysics Lab at the European Laboratory of Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence (group leader: Prof. Francesco S. Pavone). 

Lab .: he started new research projects focused on the in vivo functional imaging of brain by nonlinear microscopy. Since 2010 he is also working on a Human Frontier Science Program project which deals with imaging of developing brain functional activity by nonlinear microscopy. In 2010 he visited the Institute of Basic Medical Science, University of Oslo, learning techniques of dissection and isolation of chick embryo central nervous system by Prof. Joel Glover.

2007 - 2008          Graduated in Biotechnology, he performed his Master Degree thesis project in Medical Biotechnology at the European Laboratory of Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS), University of Florence (group leader: Prof. Francesco S. Pavone). 

Lab.: he worked with Dr Leonardo Sacconi projecting and building a custom-made random access second-harmonic generation microscope. He investigated and succeed in optically recording electrical activity of neurons in a intact neuronal network. The work (Sacconi et al., 2008) has been published one week before his Medical Biotechnology Master Degree thesis presentation in this very topic. In 2008 he visited Egidio D'Angelo's Lab, University of Pavia, improving the preparation of biological samples and neuronal electrophysiology techniques.

2006          Undergraduate student in Biotechnology at ProtEra S.r.l., University of Florence.

Lab.: his Biotechnology thesis project was to synthesize, produce and purify the human S100B protein. During his project he also performed the characterization of hS100B protein by NMR at the Center of Magnetic Resonance (CERM), University of Florence.

2005          Student in Biotechnology, he attended the "GenoLab" project: a selective 6-month course for the best 15 students in Biotechnology 2004/2005, University of Florence. At the end of the course, he received the title of Specialized Laboratory Technician in Genomic Analysis.

Lab.: genomic sequencing, microarrays and microchips, PCR and RT-PCR, bioinformatics, comparative and evolutionary genomics, genetic engineering.

Ludovico Silvestri obtained the Master Degree in Physics in 2008 at the University of Pisa, with Prof. Fronzoni as advisor. In 2009 he moved to the University of Florence, attending the International PhD in Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy at LENS and working in Pavone's Lab. His research activity is focused on the tridimensional reconstruction of intact neuronal networks in the whole brain, with cellular resolution, using Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy.

Gionata Belcastro obtained the master degree in Molecular Biotechnology at University of Florence on October 2009 and since January 2010 is a graduate student of the international PhD in 'Molecular and Atomic Spectroscopy' at LENS. His research is focused on single molecule biophysics of protein-DNA interaction dynamics, studied with both manipultaion and detection techniques (optical tweezers and single molecule fluorescence microscopy).

Lucia Gardini obtained her master degree in Physics in 2010 at the University of Bologna. During her thesis she joined the Biophysics group at Physiscs Department in Bologna and after graduation she extended this collaboration for several months as a research fellow. In 2011 she moved to LENS, University of Florence, where she's currently attending an international Phd in "Atomic and Molecular spectroscopy". Her work concerns single molecule three-dimensional tracking (in vitro and in vivo) through the combination of single-molecule fluorescence imaging techniques and optical tweezers manipulation.

Claudia Crocini obtained her Master Degree in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in July 2011 at the University of Florence with Prof. Chiara Tesi and Prof. Corrado Poggesi. Her thesis focused on 3 novel mutations associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the internship was mainly conducted in the department of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. Prof. Lucie Carrier and Prof. Takuro Arimura (University of Tokyo) tutored her internship work. She learned of tissue engineering techniques, molecular biology methods and adeno-associated virus transduction of isolated cardiomyocytes and engineered cardiac tissues. After graduation, she was employed for two months in Prof. Lucie Carrier's lab in Hamburg (September-October 2011). Claudia is currently attending an international PhD in "Atomic and Molecular Photonics" at LENS, University of Florence. Her work is about the use of multiphoton microscopy in cardiac disease.