Visiting Researcher [4 June - 4 Aug, 2015]
MEEI, Dept of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
During this period I will have the chance to collaborate with worldwide leaders in corneal and transplantation immunology, corneal imaging and inflammatory corneal disorders.
This visit will contribute significantly to my current research topic related to the automated analysis of the morphometric properties characterising corneal nerve fibres in an objective, systematic manner. Our aim is to discover biomarkers and early signs of disease conditions which could contribute to prevent further disorders or quantify objectively the severity of the pathology.

REVAMMAD training event and Project review held in Berlin (DE) [30 Nov - 6 Dec, 2014]

- Mid-term review meeting;

- Research Skills and Clinical Factors: screening for sight threatening retinopathy;

- Vascular diseases of the eye: diabetes, Age-related Macular Degeneration;

- Writing and presenting research results;

- Exploitation from the point of view of a SME.

- Current and future pharmacological approaches;

- Functional measurements;

- Chicken Chorioallantoic Membrane Vessel Network;

- Team building activities;

Presentations:

- Current progress delivered to EU representatives for project review;

Medical Imaging Summer School 2014 (MISS2014) [Favignana (IT), 27 Jul - 2 Aug, 2014]

The focus of this Medical Imaging Summer School (MISS) is to train a new generation of young scientists, by providing insights into the various interfaces between medical imaging and computer vision, based on the shared broad categories of: image segmentation, registration and reconstruction, classification and modelling, and computer-aided interpretation. The course will contain a combination of in-depth tutorial-style lectures on fundamental state-of-the-art concepts, followed by accessible yet advanced research lectures using examples and applications. A broad overview of the field will be given, and guided reading groups will complement lectures. The course will be delivered by world renowned experts from both academia and industry, who are working closely at the interface of medical imaging/computer vision.

The school aims to provide a stimulating graduate training opportunity for young researchers and Ph.D. students. The participants will benefit from direct interaction with world leaders in medical image computing and computer vision (often working in both fields). Participants will also have the opportunity to present their own research, and to interact with their scientific peers, in a friendly and constructive setting.

This summer school is endorsed by MICCAI Society and SPRINGER; it is sponsored by Toshiba and GIRPR.

Poster presentation on current work:
"A NOVEL SUPERVISED METHOD FOR CORNEAL FIBRES TORTUOSITY CLASSIFICATION USING A MULTI-SCALE-MULTI-WINDOW APPROACH"   [pdf].

REVAMMAD training event held in Crete (GR) [7 - 15 June, 2014]

- Advanced Vascular Image Processing;

- Advanced Micro Vascular Modelling;

- Hands on session: lesion detection and machine learning (classification, regression, model optimisation, feature selection, neural networks);

- Active Contours;

- Advanced retinal image analysis;

- Hands on session: image filtering, features and scale;

- Hands on session: tracing retinal vessels, texture analysis;

- Key points and matching, segmentation and registration;

- ESRs symposium;

- Individual media training;

- Team building activities;

Presentations:

- Current work;

- Vascular adaptive responses: tortuosity;

REVAMMAD training event held in Lincoln (UK) [24 Nov - 7 Dec, 2013]

- Clinical background on retina;

- Basic vascular modelling;

- Basic retinal imaging;

- Research skills;

- Brainstorming/team-building activities;

- Collaborative activities to generate initial ideas to address key research problems (identified by academic team), including presentation to and critique by whole ESR group as well as activities to encourage relations amongst all network participants.

Master's degree in Electronics and Communcations Engineering [2010 - 2012, Siena (Italy)]

Institution: Department of Information Engineering and Mathematical Science, University of Siena.

Final score: 110/110 cum Laude.

Average score per exam: 30/30 (8 out of 11 exams passed cum Laude).

Thesis: "A novel unsupervised approach for automatic retinal blood vessel segmentation by using exudates estimation, eigenvalue analysis and regularization".

Achievements:

- Certificate of Excellence: best graduate in Electronics and Communications engineering of the year.

- Poster presentation of my thesis at the 11^th ARVO/ISIE Imaging Conference in Seattle, Washington (4 May 2013, USA).

Bachelor's degree in Communcations Engineering [2007 - 2010, Siena (Italy)]

Institution: Department of Information Engineering and Mathematical Science, University of Siena.

Final score: 110/110 cum Laude.

Average score per exam: 29.921/30 (18 out of 27 exams passed cum Laude).

Thesis: "Complex entities recognition: SIFT and SURF in real-time applications".

High School Diploma [2002 - 2007, Salerno (Italy)]