Dr Valentina Caorsi

Valentina Caorsi is a Research Associate within the Molecular Medicine section, National Heart and Lung Institute.

The research activity I developed up to now aims at the study of biological molecules to address cell functioning using confocal and multiphoton fluorescence microscopy. It is devoted to the analysis of different fluorescence techniques, such as FRET (Forster Resonance Energy Transfer) and Quenching, in the comprehension of molecular interactions.

I’m a Physics graduate (2004, University of Genoa, Italy, “Forster Resonance Energy Transfer through linear and non-linear fluorescence microscopy”) with a Ph.D. in Applied Physics got by working at the Laboratory for Advanced Microscopy Bioimaging Spectroscopy under the supervision of Prof Diaspro (2008, University of Genoa, Italy, “The fluorophore and its surroundings: a study of molecular landscapes”).

In 2009 I was awarded of a Newton International Fellowship which gave me the opportunity to join the muscle biophysics group of Prof. Ferenczi to study the mechanism of muscle contraction by means of fluorescence microscopy. So far, I demonstrated the viability of using FRET to detect nanometre changes in distances across the actomyosin complex in functioning muscle fibres which may correspond to conformational changes in the actomtyosin cross-bridges which power muscle contraction.