Simona holds a degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Chemical Sciences, and her role in CENTRIC is to provide expertise in the recovery of additional intelligence from latent marks in the fight against crime and terrorism (lifestyle and activities prior to or while committing the crime). She has 16 years of experience in Lifescience Mass Spectrometry and acts as a consultant internationally. She is an expert in the development of Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionisation Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MALDI MSI) applications and has pioneered MALDI MSI development with regards to the analysis of latent fingermarks. Simona is Reader in Mass Spectrometry and the leader of the Fingermark Research Group at Sheffield Hallam University, where she 2008. She has authored 51 publications in peer reviewed international journals, 28 of which are on MALDI Imaging, and has participated in more than 50 conferences/workshops, including invited keynote and plenary talks on MALDI MSI and MALDI MSI of latent marks. She has strong network and active collaborations with West Yorkshire Police and the Home Office which endorse and fund her translational research within the forensic analysis of latent mark.
More: http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/bmrc/sp_simona_francese.html