Maria Perla Colombini is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Pisa. Her teaching activities are related to courses in analytical chemistry and the chemistry of cultural heritage. Her research is related to the development of analytical procedures based on spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques for the characterisation of micropollutants in the environment and of organic materials and their degradation products in works of art and archaeological objects. She is leader/participant of several national and international research projects for the safeguard of Cultural Heritage and coordinates the research group of the Laboratory of Chemical Sciences for the Safeguard of Cultural Heritage. She is a member of the staff of the Chemistry of Environment and Cultural Heritage of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI). Her research has resulted in over 150 publications in refereed journals and books, and in over 200 lectures at national and international congresses.

Francesca Modugno is a Lecturer in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Pisa, Italy. After graduation cum laude in Analytical Chemistry in 1997, she received her PhD in Chemical Science from University of Pisa in 2001. She teaches analytical chemistry and chemometrics and her research in the Laboratory of Chemical Science for the Safeguard of Cultural Heritage, at the Department of Chemistry of University of Pisa, deals with the application of analytical methods based on chromatography and mass spectrometry to the characterisation and the study of the degradation of organic natural materials in historical and artistic objects, with specific attention to lipids, proteins, terpenic resins and natural waxes. She has published approximately 18 papers in the last six years.