_Malgorzata Lekka holds a PhD in physics with a specialization in medical physics. She studied physics at the Jagiellonian University (Kraków, Poland), completed in 1993. In 1993, she started to work at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN, Kraków, Poland), where she obtained the PhD in 1998 in physics (specialization: biophysics) with the thesis focused on the elasticity of cancerous cells measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM), followed by habilitation in 2008. Since 2016, she is a full professor at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN, Kraków, Poland. From 2016, she headed the Department of Biophysical Microstructures at the IFJ PAN (https://www.ifj.edu.pl/oddzialy/no5/nz55). She has published over 140 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (H-index 32, researcher identifiers: A-3706-2016 (WoS), 0000-0003-0844-8662 (Orcid), and 7003401456 (Scopus)).

__Daniel Navajas, University Barcelona, Spain.

__Alessandro Podestà (AP) holds a PhD in Materials Science and since 2015 he is associate professor at the Department of Physics "Aldo Pontremoli" of the University of Milano, Italy. AP has published about 100 papers on international peer-reviewed journals (H-index 30, complete bibliographic record with metrics at: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/rid/E-6568-2010; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4169-6679). In 2012 AP obtained the National Academic Qualification (ASN) to apply for Full Professor positions in Experimental Physics of Matter (02/B1).

Since 1999, AP is active in the field of characterization of physical and chemical properties of systems and interfaces at the nanoscale by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) techniques. AP leads the AFM group of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces (CIMaINa) of Università degli Studi di Milano. The research activity of the AFM laboratory developed over the years under the guidance of AP since its foundation in 1999, along two parallel but strongly interconnected tracks: the development of experimental techniques and protocols based on atomic force microscopy, and the application of such protocols to the study of nanostructured systems and interfaces. The synergistic combination of research and development activities related to atomic force microscopy has always characterized the scientific approach of AP within the Physics Department and CIMAINA @UNIMI; this expertise has been enhanced at European and international level in funded research projects and in commissioned research activities.