Carmen Rizzo is a researcher at the Marine Biotechnology Department, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn. Her research activity is focused on the study of marine microbial communities associated with different matrices, both of temperate and polar environments, with particular attention paid to prokaryotic populations associated with marine invertebrates (i.e., porifera, annelids, and mollusks). She also studied the production of antimicrobial compounds by bacteria and algae, active against pathogens of relevance for human health and aquaculture. The research activities currently carried out cover different areas of bioprospecting, and are mainly aimed at the isolation of microbial producers of bioactive molecules, with specific functions useful in industrial and non-industrial applications, such as in the medical and environmental recovery fields. In the field of microbial ecology, she deals with deepening the functional and diversity profiling of bacterial communities in relation to different contaminants, with particular attention paid to bacteria adapted to cold environments and their biotechnological potential. She is currently involved in research projects on polar topics.