Losasso Carmen

	Role	Biologist
	Structure	SCS3 – Ecosystems Microbial Ecology and Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory
	Phone	+39 049 8084169
	E-mail	closasso@izsvenezie.it

Professional profile

Carmen Losasso is a senior biologist at the SCS3 – Ecosystems Unit of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe), where she is Head of the Microbial Ecology and Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory.

She graduated in Biological Sciences from Sapienza University of Rome and obtained a PhD in Biochemistry from the same University (2002). She subsequently completed a Postgraduate Specialisation Diploma in Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Padua (2009). From 2002 to 2009, she carried out postdoctoral research activities at the University of Padua and other research institutions. Following a period of freelance professional activity, she joined the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie in 2013. She has also completed specialised training in European project design and project management.

Her research interests include:

• microbial ecology, microbiome research, metataxonomics and metagenomics, applied to the study of complex microbial communities in human, animal, food and environmental matrices and their changes in response to selective pressures;
• antimicrobial resistance from a One Health perspective, with particular focus on the resistome, mobile genetic determinants, and the mechanisms underlying AMR selection, persistence and dissemination across the human–animal–environment interface;
• molecular epidemiology and genomics of pathogenic and zoonotic microorganisms, aimed at surveillance, reconstruction of transmission dynamics and characterisation of factors associated with epidemiological success;
• microbiological safety of animal production systems and food chains, and the study of interactions among microbiota, pathogens and the environment;
• the impact of anthropogenic pressures and climate change on microbial ecosystems, with particular attention to emerging contaminants, aquatic and marine ecosystems, and potential health risks.

Her current research activities include:

• investigating the selection, persistence and circulation of antimicrobial resistance in livestock production, food production chains and the environment through microbiological, genomic, metagenomic and quantitative approaches;
• genomic epidemiology studies of zoonotic pathogens, with particular reference to Salmonella enterica, aimed at surveillance, strain characterisation and reconstruction of transmission dynamics;
• characterisation of the microbiome and investigation of microbiota–host–pathogen interactions in farm and companion animals and across different biological and food matrices;
• investigating the effects of anthropogenic pressures and climate change on aquatic and marine ecosystems, including the plastisphere, emerging contaminants, toxins, and changes in the microbiome and resistome;
• development and application of integrated microbiological and environmental surveillance approaches based on genomics, metagenomics, eDNA/eRNA and molecular methods for the early identification of emerging hazards and to support risk assessment.