Research groups
Colleges
Carolina Costa
Blaschko Fellow
Carolina Costa was awarded the Blaschko Research Fellowship and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Pharmacology, in partnership with Linacre College, working in the group of Professor Daniel Anthony.
Carolina holds a BSc in Microbiology and a MSc in Applied Microbiology from Católica University in Porto (Portugal). During her master’s, she focused on clinical microbiology, particularly human-microbe interactions, exploring changes in the oral microbiota of patients with Chronic Kidney Disease. She then earned a European PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Porto (Portugal) which included a twelve-month joint placement in Oxford between the Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology. Her doctoral research focused on the impact of the gut-brain axis on human behaviour and personality, with a specific focus on the relationship between the gut and oral microbiota, their metabolites, and psychopathic traits.
Her current research investigates how bacteria enter the brain and their potential role in lesion formation and neuroinflammation in Multiple Sclerosis.
Recent publications
Association between gut microbiota and pediatric obesity: A systematic review
Journal article
Nóbrega R. et al, (2025), Nutrition, 140, 112875 - 112875
Systematic review and meta-analysis of microbiota-gut-astrocyte axis perturbation in neurodegeneration, brain injury, and mood disorders.
Journal article
Radford-Smith DE. et al, (2025), Brain Behav Immun Health, 46
Repeated administration of L-alanine to mice reduces behavioural despair and increases hippocampal mammalian target of rapamycin signalling: Analysis of gender and metabolic effects.
Journal article
Aziz A. et al, (2025), J Psychopharmacol, 39, 612 - 623
Importance of good hosting: reviewing the bi-directionality of the microbiome-gut-brain-axis.
Journal article
Costa CFFA. et al, (2024), Front Neurosci, 18
