**About the Editor**

### **Francesca Cima**

Francesca Cima, Ph.D., is an associate professor of comparative anatomy and cytology at the University of Padova, where she teaches "Cell Biology", "Principles of Animal Biology" and "Evolutionary History of Vertebrates". She oversees the Laboratory of Biology of Ascidians. She is a member of the Ph.D. program in biosciences (cell biology and physiology curriculum) at the University of Padova. Her main scientific interests concern comparative immunology, immunotoxicity, embryotoxicity and bioaccumulation of antifouling compounds on coastal marine invertebrates commonly used as bioindicators (ascidians, bivalve molluscs, sea urchins and sipunculans). She won the "Paolo Gatto's National Prize 1998" of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome) regarding the environmental problems of the Lagoon of Venice due to her pioneer studies on the mechanisms of action of organotin compounds. She was on the Editorial Board of *Applied Organometallic Chemistry* and *European Journal of Histochemistr*y, and now is a member of the Editorial Board of the *Journal of Marine Science and Engineering*. She has authored and co-authored more than 80 publications in international scientific, peer-reviewed journals, including 20 book chapters, 1 monograph, 1 book that she edited and 1 book chapter translated from English to Italian.
