[9] She remained at the University of Florence for her doctoral research, where she studied photonic crystals at the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy supervised by Diederik Wiersma.

[8] In January 2023, Vignolini was appointed Director of research at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Germany while retaining her professor position at the University of Cambridge.

Vignolini has also studied the bright white shell of the Cyphochilus beetle, whose scales are so thin that they scatter light incredibly efficiently.

Vignolini has shown that optical uniformity and material efficiency can be optimized by drying the cellulose nanocrystal suspension in sessile droplets under a thin oil layer.

[25] Vignolini also highlighted the important role played by bundles of cellulose nanocrystals leading to their chiral arrangement in cholesteric phases.

[28] In 2020, she was awarded a European Research Council (ERC) consolidator grant to study how organisms create symbiotic relationships to manage interactions with light.