Francesco Fersini

Short Bio

Francesco Fersini studied Electronics Engineering - Photonics at University of Pavia. He got his M.Sc. in 2019 with a research thesis developed at SciLifeLab (TestaLab group, Stockholm). He worked on a super-resolution microscope RESOLFT set-up (REversible Saturable Optical Linear Fluorescence Transitions), combining with Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy technique (FLIM) to study the kinetics of super fluorescence proteins decay. After the graduation, he joined to Pharmaceutical Company Bracco Imaging in Colleretto Giacosa (Turin, Italy) in the R&D group as Junior Researcher. The work was orientated to design a FLIM time-gated wilde-field microscope and a GUI. The final goal was to provide lifetime information and spatial variations by parametric maps. In November 2020, Francesco obtained a Ph.D. scholarship in "Bioengineering and Robotics" at the University of Genoa, to join the Molecular Microscopy and Spectroscopy group at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT, Genoa, Italy) under the supervision of Dr. Giuseppe Vicidomini. His research interests include the design of super-resolution optical microscopy and characterization of fluorescence lifetime analysis in time and frequency domain.

Projects Description

Fast detector arrays and adaptive optics are quickly revolutionizing fluorescence laser scanning microscopy (LSM). However, their combination to realize an easy architecture for high-resolution deep imaging has not been explored. With this project, we want to demonstrate that the information provided by the detector-array about the detection/probing volume of a laser scanning microscope can also be used to directly assess optical aberrations without the need for a separate wavefront sensor. This information can be immediately integrated into the image reconstruction algorithm for image scanning microscopy (ISM) to compensate for the optical aberrations occurring in the fluorescence emission path. It is possible to exploit the same information to correct aberrations in the excitation path with an adaptive optical element, such as a spatial light modulator or a deformable mirror.
We believe that this can significantly simplify the implementation of adaptive optics techniques in laser-scanning microscopy.

Publications with our group