Costanza Montis is Assistant Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, University of Florence, and member of the Italian Consortium for Colloid and Surface Science (CSGI). She received her PhD in Chemical Sciences from the University of Florence in 2013. Her main research activity focuses on the understanding of complex phenomena occurring at interfaces, from a physicochemical perspective. Her scientific interests are in Physical Chemistry of Soft Matter and include the biophysical understanding of nano-bio interfaces; the design of lipid-nanoparticles hybrid materials for biomedical applications; the engineering/characterisation of biogenic extracellular vesicles; the study of nanostructured materials for applications in restoration of works of art.

Debora is Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, University of Florence, where she leads the BioSoftMatter group. Debora’s work focuses on Soft Matter systems, from design to applications in several areas, mainly in biologically relevant fields. Throughout her career, Debora has pioneered the application of radiation scattering methods, such as small angle scattering and reflectivity, to characterize the structural details of self-assemblies with biological relevance. Her research topics include hybrid nano and micro particle/lipid assemblies for responsive drug delivery, interaction of nanostructured assemblies with model membranes, mechanistic understanding of the nanobiointerface. Currently, she is Vice President of the University of Florence.