Catarina Prista has a specialization in Biotechnology, a MSc in Food Science and Technology and a PhD in Food Engineering. Since 2013, she is Assistant Professor at ISA/ULisboa, integrating the LEAF (Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food). She is responsible for the scientific areas of Fermented Food and Functional Microbiology, in Biology Degree, Food Engineering Master and Gastronomical Sciences Master. She is the coordinator of the Master in Gastronomical Sciences at ISA/ULisboa.

In the last years, she has allied the field of Microbial Molecular Biology and Physiology with her expertise in Fermentations towards the development of new fermented food and beverages. In particular, she has been interested in the development/production of fermented food and beverages from poorly exploited pulses, starch-rich raw materials and from sub-products of food industry towards the improvement of nutrition quality, security and safety of food and beverages and in the development of new and safer starters for food and beverage production. She participated and coordinated several research projects (5 actually running), and supervises/supervised several post-doc fellows, PhD Students and Master Students. She published more than papers in international journals with peer-reviews and has presented more than 120 communications to national and international meetings.