Simona Francese is Professor of Forensic and Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), UK. She holds a degree in Chemistry obtained from the University of Salerno, Italy in 2000, and a PhD in Chemical Sciences awarded in 2004 by the same University. In her current role, she is Deputy Head of the Centre for Mass Spectrometry Imaging. She is an expert in the development of MALDI MS Imaging applications and has pioneered its development for the analysis of latent fingermarks and blood to profile offenders. More recently she has engaged in research at the interface between forensics and clinical diagnostics using sweat in fingertip smears. Her research has been implemented in police casework in UK and Europe and has been partly funded by the Home Office, West Yorkshire Police and The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, UK. She engages public dissemination at all levels and one recent endeavour was the delivery of a TED talk in Vancouver on molecular fingerprinting.