Caterina Merla, Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering (Sapienza University of Rome), is researcher at Italian National Agency for Energy, New Technologies and Economic Sustainable Development (ENEA) Division of Health Protection Technologies.
Presently she is involved in a FET OPEN project (HORIZON 2020 SUMCASTEC g.a. 737164) dealing with electromagnetic based micromanipulations of cancer stem cells.
Before she was awarded with a Marie Sklodowska Curie Individual Fellowship from the European Union (HORIZON 2020 OPTIC BIOEM project g.a. n. 661041). Under this program, in 2015-2017, she worked at CNRS UMR 8203, Gustave Roussy, University Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay on electropulsation techniques combined with non-linear optics i.e. Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS).
From 2010 to 2012 she was a post-doctoral fellow at Italian Inter-University Center for the Study of Electromagnetic Fields and Bio-Systems (ICEmB) and ENEA. In 2012 she was an invited research scientist at Light University, Bethlehem PA, USA.
From 2008 to 2010 she spent two years of post-doctoral training at CNRS UMR 7252 XLIM University of Limoges studying technologies for the generation and applications of nanosecond pulsed electric fields on cells. In 2008 she was the recipient of a young scientist award of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), to attend the URSI GASS at Chicago IL, USA.

Her main interests involve the use of electromagnetic fields (especially ultra-short electric pulses) for medical applications at technological (exposure setups design and fabrication), modeling (dosimetry and microdosimetry) and biological levels, combining advanced experimental techniques such as CARS.
She published nearly 40 articles in peer reviewed journals (H-index 17) and more than 90 communications in international conferences.