Danila Merino (Principal Investigator)

Dr. Danila Merino received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry (2014) after graduating with honors from the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP) in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Later, she obtained her PhD in Materials Science (2019) at the same university, thanks to a scholarship from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). During her PhD, she worked at the Research Institute of Materials Science and Technology (INTEMA) under the supervision of Dr. Vera Alvarez and Dr. Claudia Casalongué on the “Development of Innovative Bio-Inputs for Application in Modern Agriculture”. Her thesis was awarded as the best thesis in materials science in 2018-2020 in Argentina. After receiving her PhD in 2019 and for the following four years, Dr. Merino was a postdoctoral researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa, Italy. During this time, she worked in the Smart Materials group led by Dr. Athanassia Athanassiou on the development of valorization methods for the conversion of plant waste into bioplastics for applications in food and agriculture. In June 2023, she joined POLYMAT as an Emakiker researcher. Today, her research line at POLYMAT focuses on the development of new sustainable biocomposite materials specifically designed to protect and enhance agricultural and food systems with minimal environmental impact.