Rossana Rauti
Postdoctoral Fellow
I am a Postdoc in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tel-Aviv University. I graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies at the University of Calabria, Italy, in 2010, and obtained a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Cognitive Sciences by the University of Trieste, Italy, in 2014, under the supervision of Dr. Denis Scaini and Prof. Laura Ballerini. I was trained in electrophysiology, calcium imaging and high-resolution microscopy as a Post-Doc at the Department of Neuroscience of the International School for Advanced Studies, SISSA, Trieste, Italy. My research focused on the interactions between living neurons and carbon-based nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene. Currently, my main research focuses on developing new tools, such as Organs-on-Chip, to deeply investigate the neurovascular crosstalk, in physiological and pathological conditions.
I decided to join Ben's lab since I was fascinated by the topics of his research. I met Ben in a conference at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and, even I was ready to go to Boston for the Postdoc, I decided to completely change the future of my (and my boyfriend) life and land in Tel Aviv University. I can say that if I were able to go back in time, I would make the same choice.
During this experience, I would want to increase my knowledge about microfluidic, tissue engineering and 3D-printing fields. During my PhD and Postdoc, my activity was always more related to cellular and biological environment. Now, I want to expand my expertise developing a novel Organ-on-chip platform able to expand our knowledge on neurovascular communication, overcoming the limitations of the current cell cultures and animal models.
Another question?? After this experience, I would want to start creating my own group and my research lab. But I don't know exactly where and when etc ecc. Researcher' life is not easy and life is full of surprises!!
Be a wedding-planner is my second dream. I like weddings and I like to organize them. But also I like to stand on the top of the world. I like to travel, discover different countries and be in contact with different people. But, my favorite leisures remains a cold beer with friends.