Francesca Panin

Francesca Panin is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), specializing in the Life Sciences department. A registered pharmacist with the GPhC, she holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Sassari, Italy, and has extensive international research experience including postdoctoral work at INSERM in Bordeaux, France, and clinical research at Cambridge University Hospital.

Her educational background includes a postgraduate degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Sassari, pharmacist qualification from the Italian Ministry of Health, and a Certificate of aptitude to work as Clinical Research Assistant from ISVM Bordeaux. She also completed a PGcert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education at ARU and earned Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

Dr. Panin's research interests span Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Drug Addiction, Cognitive Neuroscience, Sleep, and Electrophysiology, with specific focus on neural mechanisms underlying depression-to-mania transitions in bipolar patients, drug addiction development, new therapies for cardiac failures, polysomnography applications, and EEG-based gait activity studies. Her publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to sleep medicine, neuropharmacology, and Huntington's disease research, with recent work emphasizing hospital sleep environments and substance use disorders.

Her scientific recognition includes the Fellowship of Higher Education Academy, JBI training in systematic review, and the 'Giovani Ricercatori' fellowship. She has successfully secured multiple research grants including projects on genetic polymorphisms in sleep disorders (as PI, 2022), training the ageing brain (as Co-I, 2022), and adolescent nicotine exposure (as Co-I, 2020).

Dr. Panin actively supervises doctoral students including a professional doctorate candidate in Health and Social Care, Pharmacy postgraduate students, and serves as second supervisor for a PhD student researching drug addiction mechanisms. She is a member of both the Behavioural Ecology Research Group and the Biomedical Research Group at ARU, where she teaches Biomedical Science courses focusing on Physiology of Organ Systems and Pharmacology and Translational Medicine. Fluent in Italian, French, and English, she maintains an active research program bridging clinical practice and academic inquiry.