People

Michele Dipalo graduated in Physics in Turin and has got a PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Ulm in Germany. He worked on the development of diamond/gallium nitride based electrochemical sensors and high power transistors. In 2011 and 2012 he worked for the company GEM Elettronica Srl on the development of high power microwave devices and circuits for RADAR applications, including electro-optic links for antenna remoting. From 2013 to 2022 he worked at IIT in Genova in the Plasmon Nanotechnologies line, first as post-doc and then as researcher. His research main topic is the application of plasmonic nanostructures to neurotechnology, electrophysiology and cardiac biology. He is presently also the coordinator of the European FET-Open project TOX-Free.

Giovanni Melle got a BSc in Biotechnology at Università del Salento and a MSc in Medical Nanobiotechnologies at the same institute. His career in research started in 2016 as a PhD student at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova. His thesis project concerned with the development of cutting-edge platforms for in-vitro electrophysiological recordings from both cardiac and neuronal cellular models. In 2020 he has been involved as postdoc in a project that aimed at the optimization and development of marketable platforms for in-vitro toxicological screenings.

Karl-Heinz Boven co-founded the company Multi Channel Systems MCS GmbH in 1996 together with Andreas Möller. MCS is a developer, manufacturer and marketer of instrumentation for in-vitro recording and stimulation. In 2014 MCS became part of Harvard Bioscience (HBIO), a global leader in manufacturing of solutions to advance life science research. HBIO is listed at the NASDAQ. In 2017 Mr. Boven was appointed Vice President/General Manager Electrophysiology business unit, managing two American and two German brands. Beginning of 2021 Mr. Boven retired from his position and is now managing director of Multi Channel Systems Holding GmbH. Prior to founding MCS, Mr. Boven held progressive positions in the field of bioelectronics at Schaerfe System GmbH, Germany (now part of Roche Diagnostics) in the 1989-1994. Mr. Boven holds a diploma in physics with a major in computational neuroscience from the University of Tübingen, 1989.

Andreas Möller co-founded Multi Channel Systems MCS GmbH in 1996 together with Karl-Heinz Boven. He has more than 25 years of experience in the field of electrophysiology apparatus for in-vitro cell recording and stimulation.

Dr. Francesco De Angelis is the director of the Plasmon Technology Unit at IIT in Genoa. He got the master degree in Physics at Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, then he spent a period (PhD) at the Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnologies in Rome (IFN-Cnr).
His main research interests are advanced nanofabrication techniques for applications in the field of Bio-Photonics and his research is currently supported by the European Commission through the FET-Open project ProID on protein sequencing (2021-2024). He has been also awarded with the ERC project (Consolidator Grant: n° 616213, “Neuro-Plasmonics”) for combining CMOS technologies with photonics for the investigation of neuronal networks. Francesco has been also the coordinator of the “PROSEQO” project (FET open 2016-2019) aimed at the development of radically new technologies for single protein sequencing.

His main expertise is on optics and plasmonic with particular attention on exploiting light for sensing, mapping and modifying elements at nanoscale. With his activity in IIT, his research focus moved to the application of nanophotonic to the biological field, especially for high performance sensing and mapping of bio samples. He is also co-inventor three patents and published more than 60 papers on peer-review impacted journals. Francesco has been involved in many EC projects, among them: FET-Open PROSEQO (2016-2019); ERC CoG, Neuro-Plasmonics (PI Francesco De Angelis, 2014-2018), E2-Plas, EC FP7: NanoSci-E+ (2009-2012).

His main expertise is on optics and plasmonic with particular attention on exploiting the light for sensing, mapping and modifying elements at nanoscale. With his activity in IIT his experience has then shifted more to the application of nanophotonic to the biological field, especially for high performance sensing and mapping of bio samples. He also is inventor co-author of three patents and published more than 60 papers on peer-review impacted journals; H index = 22. Dr. Tantussi has been involved in many EC projects, among them: FET-Open PROSEQO (2016-2019); ERC CoG, Neuro-Plasmonics (PI Francesco De Angelis, 2014-2018), E2-Plas, EC FP7: NanoSci-E+ (2009-2012).

Giuseppina Iachetta received her Master degree in Biological Sciences in 2012 and her PhD in Advanced Biology in 2016 at the University of Naples Federico II. In 2015, she was a visiting PhD student at the laboratory of Neurobiology of Cellular Interactions and Neurophysiopathology (NICN) at Aix-Marseille University, France. Her PhD thesis focused on the efficacy of nanocarriers to deliver therapeutic molecules across the blood-brain barrier in vivo and in vitro. From 2017 to 2018 she worked as postdoc at the Department of Biology at the University of Naples Federico II. In December 2018, she joined the Plasmon Nanotechnologies group at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, under the supervision of Francesco De Angelis. Currently, she works on the development of new in vitro methods for cardio- and neurotoxicity testing in preclinical drug screening.

Eoghan Somers is a mechanical engineer from Wicklow, Ireland. He graduated with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from University College Dublin in early 2021. For his thesis, he designed devices for nanosatellite mass and inertial property measurements, which were used to test Ireland’s first satellite, EIRSAT-1. Prior to joining Foresee Biosystems, he spent some time working alongside the nanosatellite team in UCD, where, among other things, he developed and tested a solar simulator platform for EIRSAT-1 control systems testing. “In my personal life, I love outdoor activities, in particular mountain biking, sailing and surfing. I’m really excited to contribute towards the SiMulTox project, and I hope you hear more from us soon!”

Carolina Scandellari is a Biomedical Engineer graduated in 2020 at the University of Bologna, the city where she come from. During her Master’s Thesis, she worked at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genova where she developed algorithms and models regarding neuronal spike detection. After that, she continued collaborating with the Institute, deciding to move back to Bologna where she started working as a software developer as well. “I am now thrilled to start this new experience with Foresee Biosystems where I will work mainly on the software development side of the products.”

Francesco Difato graduated in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Genoa in 2002. He was awarded with the 2002 GIC-Italian Citometry Group Prize for his thesis work. In 2008 he received his Ph.D  at Charles University in Prague, with a thesis entitled: “Optical microscopy to study the role of the cytoskeleton in cell locomotion and virus trafficking”.

He has a strong background in biophysics, neuro-engineering and optical microscopy. His work focused on the development of optical systems for the precise and controlled spatio-temporal optical stimulation/manipulation of biological samples, and on the integration of optical approaches with electrophysiological recording devices to study biological living models at various levels of complexity.

Stefanos Ioakeimidis is an Electrical and Computer Engineer, specialized in electronics. He got his master’s degree from Democritus University of Thrace, Greece in 2013. After graduating, he joined XoLab, a robotics research group at the Italian Institute of Technology where he was responsible for designing, assembling and testing the electronics of various wearable robotic devices. He is now happy to have joined Foresee Biosystems, where he is working on the electronics of innovative platforms that help scientists and researchers in the biomedical field.

Giuliana Orlandini graduated in December 2022 with a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering at the Politecnico of Turin, with a specialization in Bionanotechnology. During her Master thesis project she collaborated with the Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology (GBMI) research group of the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya to develop an antibacterial platform designed for the treatment of chronic wounds.
“I am a creative person with a profound passion for everything concerning the biomedical world. I am really excited to start my professional career with the team of Foresee Biosystems. This represents a great opportunity for me, and I hope to grow in and with the company!”