Elisabetta Colombo

Elisabetta Colombo graduated in Physics of Advanced Technologies at the University of Torino in 2005. From 2005 to 2008 she specialized in materials characterization techniques and carbon based materials properties during the PhD at the Experimental Physics Department at the University of Torino. She worked as post-doc fellow in the following two/three years at the Electron Devices and Circuits Department at the University of Ulm in Germany: there she designed, fabricated and tested HFCVD diamond sensors for drug-screening and bio-chemical applications, constantly interacting with neuroscientists and clinical groups. Back to Italy, with an improved background in electrochemistry and cleanroom fabrication technologies, she worked in the private sector for a couple of years, focusing first on solar cells technologies, and subsequently on radar and navigation systems. She was then post-doc fellow at the NSYN Center of IIT in Genova, where she focused her research on the development and characterization of photosensitive neural interfaces. At IIT, her main activity was related to a novel retinal device based on photovoltaic conjugated polymers able to modulate neuronal activity upon illumination at the level of membrane potential in cultured neurons, or more complex neuronal networks like retina explants. Following up on this project, she was involved in different interdisciplinary projects deputed to the development of light-sensitive neurostimulation tools from the fabrication, to the in vitro testing, to the final application in vivo. Now, she is Technologist at the NSYN Center of IIT in Genova where she provides the support and know-how for the developing of successful therapeutic photostimulation strategies in the field of vision restauration, she support their technological translation to clinical practice, and manages over the setups and experimental facilities of the center.