Dr Laura Cerchia is Senior Researcher and Group Leader at the Institute of Endocrinology and Experimental Oncology (IEOS) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). She received her PhD from the University of Naples "Federico II" in Biochemical Sciences in 1997, and until 2000, she worked as post-Doc Research Fellow at the Department of Biological Chemistry (UNINA), focusing on the study of proteins and nucleic acids involved in the control of cellular homeostasis in thermophilic microorganisms. Then, she moved to the IEOS and, as CNR fixed-term researcher, staff and senior researcher, and she now focuses on the generation of nuclease-resistant RNA aptamers targeting cancer cells and their preclinical development as theranostics, and the therapeutics and delivery agents of drug-loaded nanoparticles to human cancers. Since 2007, she has led her own independent team in the frame of national and international research grants that she coordinates as Principal Investigator. She is member of the International Society on Aptamers. In 2018, she won the National Scientific Qualification to function as a Full Professor of general and clinical pathology in Italian Universities. She has served on several national and international research program committees, as well as Editorial and Advisory Boards.