Biography
Francesco was born in Italy near Padua in 1989. In 2008, he was admitted to prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore for Natural Sciences, where he graduated in 2013. He obtained a BSc and MSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Pisa in 2011 and 2013. In 2018 he obtained a PhD in Neurobiology from Scuola Normale Superiore.
Research interest
After joining the University of Edinburgh, I have worked with Prof. Richard Morris for 5 years and later joined the lab or Prof. Tara Spires-Jones. My interests include memory and related molecular modifications at the synaptic level in health and neurodegeneration. During my PhD, I developed potentiation reporters to map potentiated synapses in the brain during behavioural tasks. In Richard Morris's lab, I developed the application of microendoscopic recording of calcium activity in the rat hippocampus to study the stability of memories. and how information is accessed during remembering and planning. In Spires-Jones's lab, I am applying my molecular and imaging expertise to elucidate the correlate of synaptic elimination or survival with their activity status during early neurodegenerative injuries.