Centrone is recognized for creating a novel instrument that combines the capabilities of optical spectroscopy, from visible to mid-infrared, with the spatial resolution of scanning probe microscopy. His tool leads the world in every essential metric and gives correlated information on chemical composition, material structure, topography, and optical and thermal properties over a region as small as 20 nanometers. His instrument is the first capable of characterizing aggregate proteins related to Alzheimer's disease at biological length scales and in a bio-relevant environment.