Francesca Prestori is a Researcher of Physiology at the Department of Brain and behavioral Sciences, University of. Pavia, integrating electrophysiological skills (patch-clamp recordings) with different types of imaging (including Ca2+ imaging), primarily studying the cerebellum. The main scientific interest is in neuron biophysics and cellular and systems neurophysiology concerning neurotransmission and long-term synaptic plasticity, neuronal excitability and signal coding, with regard to cell neuropathology. Specifically, we are investigating , in mice engineered disruption of IB2 locus, the potential role of this postsynaptic protein in cerebellar mossy fiber-granule cell synapse in autism spectrum disorder, with particular regard to the functional role of NMDA receptors. Moreover, we are investigating inhibitory GABAergic connections and Golgi cell intrinsic electroresponsiveness and long-term synaptic plasticity. Other research lines concern voltage − dependent channels (calcium, sodium potassium) and their impact on the excitable response. Calcium dynamics are investigated with imaging techniques, and in vivo recordings from the granular layer are used to better understand the cellular implications of neuronal functions at the system level. To this aim, granular layer functions are also investigated by using mathematical models, with particular concern for information transfer and signal coding. Recently we have developed a multi−electrode array (MEA) and fast imaging system with voltage−sensitive dyes for investigating spatio−temporal dynamics of excitation and plasticity in cerebellar slices. In addition to this we are using an integrated miniaturized fluorescence microscope paired with an implanted prism probe to simultaneously visualize and record the calcium dynamics of hundreds of cerebellar in freely behaving mice.
