As a 2019 SenSMet Visiting Fellow, Carlotta is testing the hypothesis that the microbiota-gut-brain axis plays a role in smell and taste disruption in the context of eating disorders related pathologies, such as overweight and obesity. She is working with human subjects within the clinical trials lead by Dr. Joseph, as well as with rodent model in pre-clinical studies. Her long-term goal is to identify new targets for the treatment of eating disorders related pathologies. 

Furthermore, Carlotta is also studying the gut microbiome within the mark of the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Research Protocol lead by Dr. Avindra Nath (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) and Dr. Brian Walitt (NINR).

Carlotta received her B.A. in Biology and Natural Sciences by the University of Tor Vergata (Rome Italy) and Bologna (Italy) and both her M.Sc. in Microbiology and Ph.D. in Microbiology from the Department of Molecular Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain) and from the Molecular Biology Center Severo Ochoa. During her Ph.D., Carlotta applied molecular ecology techniques, as well as classical microbiology techniques, to characterize the microbial ecology of an extreme, acidic, and heavy metal-rich environment. She also performed biotechnology tests on microalgal isolates to study their heavy metal tolerance and the biological production of silver nanoparticles. Carlotta’s background is in molecular biology, microbiology, biotechnology, metabolomics, and metagenomics.