Paola Dapino is an Italian marine biologist and researcher, known for her work at ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), where she heads the Laboratory of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services at the Santa Teresa Research Centre in La Spezia. Her career focuses on marine ecotoxicology, with extensive research on the effects of pollutants—particularly microplastics and nanomaterials—and climate change on marine organisms and ecosystems. She has authored numerous scientific publications in international peer-reviewed journals documenting the results of her studies. For her innovative contribution, she and her team were finalists for the prestigious European Inventor Award in the "Research" category in 2024. The recognition was awarded for the development of a revolutionary biosensor system, nicknamed the "plastic-sniffer," capable of rapidly detecting the presence and biodegradability level of plastics in water, providing a key tool for monitoring marine pollution.