Dr Francesco De Angelis is Principal Investigator at IIT where he leads the Plasmon Nanotechnologies Unit (20 members in total: 2 researchers, 15 postdocs, 2 PhD students and 1 technician). His main expertise relies on micro and nano-optical devices for biomedical applications. He was awarded an IDEAS-ERC Consolidator grant (Neuro-Plasmonics, grant agreement 616213) for developing radically new interfaces between electrical/optical devices and neuronal networks. Before ProID, He has been also the coordinator of the PROSEQO project (FET Open, grant agreement 687089) that was devoted to next-generation methods for protein sequencing. He published more than 160 papers in peer-review impacted journals.

Dr. Julien Hurtaud graduated in Biomedical Engineering from the French Grande École Grenoble INP - Phelma in 2018. He went on to complete a Ph.D. in Bioelectronics/Biophysics at CEA Grenoble, where his research focused on the optical, mechanical, and electrical properties of protein-based materials. His work led to two patents and several peer-reviewed articles demonstrating the emerging properties of these biomaterials.

From 2022 to 2025, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) under the European TOXFREE project, focusing on the micro- and nanofabrication of biosensors for non-invasive cellular electrophysiology. He is currently working on next-generation microelectrode arrays (MEAs) for advanced electrophysiological measurements, as well as the fabrication of nanoporous devices crucial for single-molecule detection.

Dr. Kirill Khabarov has been a postdoc in the Plasmon Nanotechnology group at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) since December 2022. His research focuses on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), nanopore-based molecular translocation, and the analysis of ultrafast spectral events using SPAD detectors and machine learning approaches.

He obtained his PhD from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). His work spans plasmonic nanostructures, electrophoretic transport through nanostructured membranes, and label-free molecular sensing using Raman spectroscopy. Recent research includes the detection and classification of single nucleotides and peptides during translocation through permeable plasmonic membranes based on detected ultrafast SERS signals.

His expertise includes data-driven analysis of low-photon Raman events for single-event molecular discrimination, as well as the development of approaches for single-molecule spectroscopy and plasmonic biosensing applications.

Senior researcher at the Plasmon Nanotechnologies unit led by Dr Francesco De Angelis. His main expertise is on nano-phonics and plasmonic with particular attention on exploiting the near field for measuring, mapping and modifying surfaces at the nanoscale. With his activity in IIT, his experience has then shifted more to the application of nanophotonics to the biological field, especially for high-performance sensing and mapping of biosamples. He also is the inventor co-author of three patents and published more than 60 papers on peer-review impacted journals; H index = 14. Dr Tantussi has been involved in many 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).

Dr. Francesco Difato graduated in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Genoa in 2002. He was awarded the 2002 GIC – Italian Cytometry Group Prize for his thesis work. In 2008, he received his Ph.D. from 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, neuroengineering, and optical microscopy. His research has focused on the development of optical systems for precise and controlled spatiotemporal stimulation and manipulation of biological samples, as well as on the integration of optical approaches with electrophysiological recording devices to investigate biological systems at different levels of complexity.

Currently, his research is focused on the development of Raman microscopy systems for the detection and discrimination of single molecules at high temporal resolution.

Alice Colonnelli graduated in Nanotechnology Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome and is currently a PhD fellow in the Plasmon Nanotechnologies Lab at IIT (Italian Institute of Technology).

She works on clean-room fabrication processes, contributing to the preparation of nanostructured samples for spectroscopy-based biosensing