Born in Florence on March 29, 1954. • Graduated in Biological Sciences with the highest marks and praise on February 16, 1978, University of Florence. • 1981-1983: CNR scholarship with a three-year professional training allowance, laboratory of Cardiac Electrophysiology at the Department of Clinical and Preclinical Pharmacology of the University of Florence • 1983-1987: PhD student in Physiology, Department of Physiological Sciences of the University of Florence • 1985: Research fellow at the Laboratory of Professor Caspar Rüegg, Physiologisches Institut, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. The stay in the laboratory of Prof. Rüegg was used to acquire the "freeze-dry skinning" technique of muscle fibers. • 1988: Doctor of Physiology Research • Prize of the Italian Society of Physiology for Young Physiologists in 1989. • Researcher (1989), Associate Professor (1992), Ordinary Professor (2000) of Physiology at the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences at the University of Florence. • Visiting scientist at the Laboratory of Prof. Andrew F. Huxley, Physiological Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, for periods of one month / year in the years 1991-1995. The aim of the collaboration was to perfect the mechanics of single muscle fiber mechanics with sarcomero level control. • Since 1992 has been the holder of University Research Funds. • 2009: Member of the "Review Panel Countermeasures & Exercises" for the Scientific Assessment of Proposals submitted to the European Space Agency (ESA) • Member of the European Science Foundation (ESF) Review Pool for the 2010-2012 biennium. • Contributor to various X-ray diffraction projects from single muscle fibers: - at the synchrotron of Daresbury (UK) in the years 1990-1997. The project, led by Professor Malcolm Irving (King's College London) and funded by the Medical Research Council (UK), NATO and MIUR, has allowed the combination of high resolution mechanics developed in Florence with the X-ray diffraction technique Small angle resolved over time, providing the basics for the in situ study of the molecular engine of the muscle. - at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF, Grenoble, France) since 1995. The project, led by Professor Vincenzo Lombardi (University of Florence) and funded by ESRF, MIUR and EMBL, has been awarded several times as Long Term Project And led to the development of X-ray diffraction technique for measuring the motion of myosinic motor with resolution below the nanometer. - at the Advanced Photon Source (APS, Argonne, IL, USA) since 2001. The project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA) and coordinated by Prof. Lombardi, allowed to use the unique characteristics of the APS BioCAT low angle diffraction line light for defining molecular muscle performance bases. • Member of the Organizing Committee of the "XXXIII European Muscle Conference" held in Elba Island in 2004. • Organizer of the "Force and velocity: from single molecules to ensemble" session of the Alpach Workshop on Molecular Motors 2013 (March 16-22, 2013, Alpbach, Austria). • Co-chair of the "Force sensing in muscle" symposium during the 58th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society in San Francisco, USA, February 15-19, 2014. • Editorial activity for Biophysical Journal, Journal of Physiology, PLoS Computational Biology, American Journal of Physiology, PLoSONE. • Member of the Italian Society of Physiology, of the American Biophysical Society and of the Italian Society of Synchrotron Light. • Scientific activity mainly concerns single cell study of the molecular mechanism of muscle contraction by high-resolution mechanical and structural methods and is documented by numerous publications both on multidisciplinary high-impact journals (Nature, Cell, Nature Structural Biology, Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) and the most important journals in the specific fields of Physiology and Biophysics (Journal of Physiology, Biophysical Journal). • Principal international collaborations: Professor Malcolm Irving, Director of the Randall Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Function, King's College London, London, UK, Professor Thomas Irving, Director of BioCAT, APS, Argonne, USA and Professor at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA. • Collaborations with existing Institutes and Research Centers: Complex Dynamic Study Center (CDSC) of the University of Florence (May 2010), CRS-SOFT (INFM-CNR Roma, 2006), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) Grenoble, France (since 1995), Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA (since 2001).

Physiology, Cellular Physiology