Key publications

Jes Dreier, Marco Castello, Giovanna Coceano, Rodrigo Cáceres, Julie Plastino, Giuseppe Vicidomini & Ilaria Testa (2019)Smart scanning for low-illumination and fast RESOLFT nanoscopy in vivo.
Nature Communications 10, Article number: 556

Luciano A. Masullo, Andreas Bodén, Francesca Pennacchietti, Giovanna Coceano, Michael Ratz and Ilaria Testa (2018) Enhanced photon collection enables four dimensional fluorescence nanoscopy of living systems.
Nature Communications 9, Article number: 3281

Francesca Pennacchietti, Ekaterina O. Serebrovskaya, Aline R. Faro, ……..and Ilaria Testa.(2018) Fast reversibly photoswitching red fluorescent proteins for live-cell RESOLFT nanoscopy
Nature Methods 15, 601–604

Ilaria Testa, Nicolai T. Urban, Stefan Jakobs, Christian Eggeling, Katrin I. Willig, Stefan W. Hell (2012) Nanoscopy of living brain slice with low light levels,
Neuron 75: 992–1000 doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.07.028

Ilaria Testa

Research Interests

My research group works at the interface of physics, chemistry and neuroscience on the development and application of cutting-edge imaging technology.

Fluorescence microscopes, and especially their confocal and two-photon variants, are unique in their ability to observe directly morphological changes and molecular reactions in living cells. However, they are limited in resolution by the diffraction barrier (about 200-300 nm). This limitation is overcome with great success by the field of super-resolution microscopy.

In our lab we develop novel paradigms and concepts based on super-resolution light microscopy or fluorescence nanoscopy suitable for live cell imaging with the overarching goal of addressing contemporary challenges in biophysics and molecular biology. We continuously push the spatial and temporal resolution of novel nanoscopes (MoNaLISA, Smart RESOLFT, Adaptive STED) with the use of new molecular switchers (rsFusionRed) combined to custom designed illumination schemes.

This way, our technology allows the precise identification of populations of biomolecules depending on their localization, abundance and dynamics inside their native environment with a spatial accuracy far beyond the diffraction limit of light (20-70 nm).

A special effort is dedicated to investigate the localization and function of neuronal proteins, especially in synapses and fine processes, where trafficking organelles and protein complexes, due to the crowding, call for high resolution imaging in space and time for investigations of basic mechanisms.

Group members

Ilaria Testa, Associate Professor
Giovanna Coceano, Postdoc
Francesca Pennacchietti, Postdoc
Elham Jalalvand, Postdoc
Lea Rems, Shared-Postdoc with Delemotte Lab.
Jonatan Alvelid, PhD student
Andreas Boden, PhD student
Martina Damenti, PhD student
Xavier Casas Moreno, PhD student

Contact

ilaria.testa@scilifelab.se
testa@kth.se

Last updated: 2022-11-30

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