Ilaria Testa

Research experience: fluorescence microscopy, optical nanoscopy or super resolution light microscopy, STED/RESOLFT, single molecule, neuronal bioimaging


I performed my PhD between 2006 and 2009 at the University of Genoa (Italy) and my postdoc between 2009-2014 at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen (Germany). Since 2015 I’m conducting my independent research at the Science for Life Laboratory as Faculty at the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden). The goal of my group is to develop the novel paradigms made available by super-resolution microscopy to address contemporary challenges in biophysics and neuroscience. To achieve this goal we push forward the quantitative aspect of live cell imaging by setting-up and applying different concepts of super-resolution microscopy. We developed automated STED, MoNaLISA and smart RESOLFT which allow the precise identification of populations of neuronal proteins and organelles inside their native environment. We also use our technology to investigate neuronal proteins, especially in synapses, where trafficking organelles and protein complexes are so tight in space that resolving them requires high resolution in space and time.