The Second Unit of Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology "G. Salvatore" Institute founded in 2021 belongs the Department of Biomedical Science and is located at the interdisciplinary research CNR Campus in Castellino (Area di Ricerca CNR-NA1).

The IEOS-Second Unit is a research centre specialized in cell biology, oncology and advanced microscopies. The institute hosts the European ERIC infrastructure Euro-Bioimaging in particular the "Advanced light microscopy" node, which constitutes a European and world-wide reference point in the sector of biological imaging for applications, especially, in the oncology field.

The main research topics of IEOS-second units are:

• Cell and molecular biology: mechanisms of inter- and intra-cellular signalling and trafficking
• Molecular oncology: identification of molecular targets and drug development
• Advanced morphology: imaging, microscopy and biosensors
• Diagnostic tools: development of new tools/approaches for diagnosis of tumor or tumor-associated pathologies
• Viral infection studies: identification of molecular targets, drug delivery, biosensors and drug development

The total number of researchers in the campus is about 700. In addition, the CNR Campus hosts a number of private industrial laboratories. The arrival of personnel from SMEs and industrial groups has been promoted by National and Regional programs aiming at collaborative studies between industries and academia in the fields of pharmacology, biotechnology, ICT. Collaborations in the Campus are an important ingredient for success in competitive projects. Experts in molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, cell biology, biophysics and immunology operate at IBB, IGB, IEOS, and IBBC; in mathematics, bio-informatics, engineering science, physics at IAC, ICAR and ISASI; in biology and environmental sciences at IRET and IBBR. This is a simplified categorization, since many different types of expertise, related to the main interests of the Institutes, are present across the Campus.
The advanced bioimaging facility run by IEOS is an Eurobioimaging node of  Eurobioimaging ESFRI Infrastructure. The IEOS facility has a tradition in correlative microscopy, having established the first modern form of correlative microscopy (CLEM) in 2000. The facility is equipped with leading edge instrumentation in several areas of light and electron microscopy. It primarily offers correlative microscopy in different forms, including video/light with electron microscopy/tomography (CLEM) The facility also offers superresolution microscopy (G-STED), high-throughput microscopy and electron microscopy and tomography. Related to bioimaging is the expertise in biosensors (design, production, with biomedical and environmental applications) developed within the IEOS. Also relevant to this is the expertise in microelectronics, sensors and  microsystems of the ISASI. The development of the micro and nano-photonic technologies (usually applied in bio-medicine, ICT, aerospace and environment) is exploited to design innovative devices for in vivo bioimaging. A Raman microscopy approach to detect biomarkers in live cells is the collaborative effort of researchers at ISASI and IEOS (with application in cancer early diagnosis). The ICAR contributes to this line of medical applications by developing innovative technology in the areas of High Performance Computing and Networking and of Intelligent Systems with Complex Functionalities. In particular, novel approaches for the image analysis in medicine (in the diagnosis and prognosis of tumors), and frontline ICT technologies are developed by the engineers at ICAR. A highly-used facility (also by external users) is represented by the state-of-the-art “clean rooms” for the assembly of micro and nano devices run by ISASI. Data analysis, bioinformatics and biomodeling approaches are developed by the combined efforts of the scientists from the basic science, and computational Institutes. 

The CNR of Italy is distributed throughout the national territory with seven Departments and 107 Institutes encompassing the field of humanities, life sciences and technologies. The Campania region, and Naples in particular, hosts about twenty of these Institutes, most of them operating in life sciences and technologies. Naples also hosts five large Universities (with a total of about 5.000 researchers and professors and about 80.000 students), and other major research institutions such as the Marine Biological Station “Anton Dohrn”, and the “Telethon Institute for Genetics and Medicine” (Tigem). Thus, the city of Naples, known for its arts and history (often ignored in the international news, which favor the “glamour” of cuisine, sport or, unfortunately, criminality-related news) deserves also to be mentioned for its strong scientific presence and cultural background. For the Life Sciences, this becomes obvious the particular location of the Research Area CNR-NA1 (the Castellino Campus) based on the hill of Naples (Vomero) in the central neighborhood known as the “Hospital Area”, is at very close distance (less than 1 km) from the “Federico II University” Medical School, the Cancer Research Hospital “Pascale”, the “Cardarelli” General Hospital, the Children Research Hospital “Santobono” and the “Center  for Genetic Engineering and Advanced Biotechnologies” (Ceinge). Other internationally known Institutions are in the Naples old city center. These include the “Anton Dohrn” Marine Biological Station, the Physics, Chemistry, Life Sciences and Humanities Departments of the Federico II University and of the Second Naples University, among others.