Francesco Difato graduated in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Genoa in 2002. He was awarded with the 2002 GIC-Italian Citometry Group Prize (Annual award for the best graduation thesis in bio-engeneering) for his thesis on “Quantitative volumetric recostruction of bioimages by confocal microscopy”. In 2008 he received his Ph.D at Charles University in Praha, with a thesis entitled: “Optical microscopy to study the role of the cytoskeleton in cell locomotion and virus trafficking”. Currently at Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), he constructed and developed the activities of his photonic-neurosurgery laboratory. He aims to combine optical tweezers and laser dissector system integrated with electrophysiological recordings and functional fluorescence imaging (calcium, voltage sensors). The optical surgery workstation is exploited  to study the physiological response of single neurons and neural networks to mechano-chemical stimuli. Especially in neural regeneration studies, the system he developed, represents a tool for testing pharmacological approaches and scaffolds aimed at enhancing neurites regrowth, and recovery of functional connections after total or partial lesions due to trauma or neuro pathologies.