She is a senior researcher and assistant Professor at the Department of Physical, Earth and Environmental Sciences (DSFTA) of the University of Siena (Italy) since 1 November 2001. She is currently a lecturer in the following courses: Ecotoxicology of Remote Areas (Master's Degree); Marine Ecology (Bachelor's Degree). She is responsible for the Curriculum in Biology, Ecology, Biodiversity of the PhD of National Interest in Polar Sciences (Ca' Foscari University of Venice); she is a member of the Board of Professors of the PhD in Environmental, Geological and Polar Sciences and Technologies.
She collaborates with colleagues from Italian and foreign universities/research institutions. Since 1994 she works in the Italian National Antarctic Research Programme (PNRA) and has participated in seven Antarctic Expeditions. She is part of the international program TUNU-Programme: Euro-Arctic Marine Fishes—Diversity and Adaptation, coordinated by UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, participating in six expeditions in the Arctic; in this programme she has studied the ecotoxicology of the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus). She is president of the Action Group "Input Pathways of Persistent Organic Pollutants to Antarctica, ImPACT" of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 2019 she has been a member of the Expert Group on POPs of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). She is P.I. of the Laboratory of Ecotoxicology and Remote Areas (ERRe LAB) of the DSFTA.
The main research interests include the ecotoxicology of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Polar Regions, and marine ecology. In particular: study of POPs and emerging contaminants under climate-driven changes; POP fluxes between abiotic and biotic ecosystem compartments and from tissue to community levels; bioaccumulation in predators and trophic webs; risk assessment (TEQ); POPs in food and human risk (TWI, EDI); ecology of seabirds (1994-2005).