Giovanna Monticelli is a marine biologist with a strong interest in host–microbiome interactions and environmental stress responses in marine invertebrates. Originally from Italy, she completed her M.Sc. in Marine Biology and Ecology before moving to Norway for a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Ecotoxicology. There, she focused on the impacts of pollutants on fish and invertebrate microbiomes, gaining hands-on experience in both lab-based molecular techniques and field-based ecological assessments.

Over the years, she has built expertise in omics technologies, including microbiome sequencing and transcriptomics, as well as bioinformatics workflows. Her research has taken her across Europe and the U.S., including training periods in California (UCR) and Florida (UF), and collaborations with multidisciplinary teams working on marine pollution, animal physiology, and aquaculture health.

Her research explores how marine organisms respond to environmental stress—whether it's pollution, pathogens, or climate change—through a systems biology lens. She is particularly interested in the role of microbiota in shaping host health and resilience, a perspective that continues to guide her work. Soon, she will start her MSCA project SHIELD, which focuses on improving the resilience of Manila clams to environmental stressors—combining lab experiments, fieldwork, and advanced genomics to better understand how early microbial exposure and parental history influence stress responses in shellfish.