**About the Editors**

#### **Menotti Ruvo**

Dr. Ruvo graduated in Chemistry at the University of Naples in 1991. During the first 10 years of his career, he worked in industry, as a researcher in charge of the protein and peptide laboratory and contributing to the development of several bioactive molecules. In 2002, he joined the Institute of Biostructure and Bioimaging of the National Research Council (IBB-CNR) in Naples, Italy, leading several projects focused on the development of novel bioactive peptides and monoclonal antibodies against therapeutically relevant targets. Among others, he has developed peptides modulating the activity of PlGF, Cripto and Gadd45beta and monoclonal antibodies against Nodal, HCV E2 protein, Cripto, Ape1 and PRAME. He was one of the founders of Kesios Therapeutics Ltd (London) and Anbition (Naples). He is the author of about 170 papers and inventor of >30 patents.

#### **Annamaria Sandomenico**

Annamaria Sandomenico is a researcher at the Institute of Biostructure and Bioimaging (IBB) of the National Research Council (CNR), Italy. She graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies (2004) and completed her PhD in Biotechnological Sciences (2008) at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. Since 2006 she has been working with Dr. Menotti Ruvo at IBB-CNR, Naples, Italy.

Her research activities are focused on the identification and development of bioactive molecules including peptides, monoclonal antibodies and new recombinant antibody formats (Fab, scFv, ADC, humanized, bispecific antibodies) against targets of diagnostic and therapeutic interest. She is co-author of more than 70 papers and co-inventor of patents related to monoclonal antibodies. She has developed several monoclonal antibodies against novel tumour biomarkers such as Cripto-1, Nodal, Ape1 and PRAME and viral antigens such as HCV E2 protein. She also contributed to the creation of a platform to generate engineered recombinant antibody fragments with reactive sites for bioconjugation and site-specific multimerisation.
