Annalisa Rovinelli grew up in Tavernelle (PU), a small village on the Adriatic coast, in Italy. She moved to Bologna to attend a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and materials chemistry at the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, that was completed with a thesis on fluorescence sensing of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs by squaramide-based receptors.

She then continued her academic career at the University of Bologna with a two-years master’s degree in photochemistry and molecular materials and she had the chance to carry out an internship abroad with an Erasmus + programme, at the Nanochemistry and Bioimaging team of the CNRS/University of Strasbourg, in France. There, she extended her knowledge on fluorescence-based imaging techniques, working on Super-Resolution Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy techniques, and developed dye-loaded photothermally responsive rods that could be further developed for photothermal therapies.

This experience strengthened her interest in fluorescence-based microscopies and pushed her to apply to her current PhD position under the supervision of Prof. Michael Monaghan, at Trinity College Dublin, within the flIMAGIN3D network. One of the aspects that drove her to apply for this position was the interdisciplinarity of the programme and the possibility to share the experience with a diverse and brilliant group of researchers. She is really looking forward to increasing her knowledge in the biomedical research field and to use her knowledge in photochemistry to work on FLIM and iPSCs-based cardiac organoid development.