Serena Riela has been an Associated Professor at the University of Palermo since 2018. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Bologna in 2000, under the supervision of Prof. D. Spinelli. She was post-doctoral researcher at the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of Palermo. She spent one year at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) under the supervision of Prof J. F. Stoddart and eight months at the University of Bordeaux 1 under the supervision of Prof. A. Castellan. Her current interests are focused on the chemical modification of halloysite nanotubes and their applications in catalysis, drug delivery, bioremediation, and so on. Riela is the author of about 90 publications in peer reviewed international journals.