Valentina Emiliani

Emiliani studied physics at Sapienza University of Rome, graduating in 1991. She completed her doctorate in physics at the same university in 1997, with a thesis on the optical properties of quantum structures.^[2] She then undertook postdoctoral research at the Max Born Institute in Berlin, followed by a period at the European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy in Florence.^[3]

In 2002, Emiliani joined the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2004, she was recruited as a researcher at the CNRS.^[4] In 2005, she received a European Young Investigator grant and established the Wavefront Engineering Microscopy group at Paris Descartes University.^[3] She was promoted to CNRS Research Director in 2011.^[1]

In 2014, she became director of the Neurophotonics laboratory at Paris Descartes University. In 2018, she joined the Institut de la Vision with her team and took over the Photonics Department.^[5][6]

Emiliani's research focuses on the application of wavefront modulation techniques to neuroscience. Her research has developed methods combining computer-generated holography and temporal focusing with optogenetics to control neuronal activity.^[3] In 2020, she received an ERC Advanced Grant for the HOLOVIS project, aimed at the optical manipulation of visual circuits.^[7]