Loretta L. del Mercato, is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Nanotechnology of Cnr (Nanotec-Cnr) in Lecce, Italy, where she coordinates the 3D Cell Sensing group. She earned her Biotechnology degree in 2004 from the University "Federico II" of Naples (IT) and PhD in "Materials and Innovative Technologies" in 2007 from the Scuola Superiore “ISUFI” of University of Lecce (IT). She was post-doctoral researcher at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, from 2008 to 2010, and then Junior Researcher at the Nanoscience Institute of Cnr in Lecce. In 2015, she became Principal Investigator at the newly funded Nanotechnology Institute of Cnr in Lecce. Her expertise includes nanostructured systems and biomaterials for medical applications, combining optical imaging and computational techniques. She has led several national and international projects, receiving notable grants such as the ERC Starting Grant (2017) and the My First AIRC Grant (2019). She was visiting researcher in Spain (2009), Germany (2013), Netherlands (2015), and Brazil (2023). Since 2018, she has been on the Supervisory Board of the Technopole for Precision Medicine of Apulia (Tecnomed Puglia) and, since December 2022, coordinates the Center of Excellence for Advanced NanoBiomaterials and Technologies (CoE-NBT) in Lecce (IT). Additionally, she is founder and member of the Italian Pancreatic Cancer Community (I-PCC) and the “ERC in Italy” Association and serves as a grant evaluator for several funding agencies and journal reviewer/editor. More info here: http://intercellmed.nanotec.cnr.it.