{"id":100,"date":"2023-05-26T10:30:37","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T14:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/?page_id=100"},"modified":"2026-09-14T12:46:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T16:46:38","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/100\/2023\/05\/carlota.jpg\" alt=\"Dra. Mar\u00eda Carlota Dao, PhD, Investigadora Principal\nLa Dra. Dao dirige FIRST; investigadora biling\u00fce y bicultural con experiencia en obesidad y el microbioma intestinal.\" height=\"600\" width=\"600\" title=\"carlota_slide\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n\t<strong>Maria Carlota Dao, Ph.D.<\/strong><br \/>\nLab Director and Assistant Professor\n<p>Dr. Maria Carlota Dao is an Assistant Professor of Human Nutrition in the Department of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems at the University of New Hampshire. As an interdisciplinary scientist focused on obesity research, she investigates the interplay of cardiometabolic risks, dietary and psychosocial factors, and the gut microbiota. Through this work she seeks to address obesity in health disparity populations. Prior to becoming a faculty member at UNH, Dr. Dao worked as a scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Her training includes a postdoctoral fellowship at the Sorbonne University and INSERM (Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition) in France, and a PhD in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about Dr. Dao, visit her\u00a0<a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/colsa.unh.edu\/person\/maria-carlota-dao\">UNH faculty page<\/a>\u00a0or visit her\u00a0<a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=WIj7JvQAAAAJ&amp;hl=en\">Google Scholar page<\/a> for a complete\u00a0list of her publications.<\/p>\nCourses Dr. Dao Teaches: <a href=\"https:\/\/courses.unh.edu\/class\/201750\/52291\">BMS 799H<\/a>: Senior Honors Thesis,\u00a0NUTR <a href=\"https:\/\/courses.unh.edu\/class\/201710\/16944\">720<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/courses.unh.edu\/class\/201950\/55241\">820<\/a>: Community Nutrition,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/courses.unh.edu\/class\/202250\/55986\">NUTR 927<\/a>: Nutr Gut Micr<br \/>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/100\/2023\/05\/brandy.jpg\" alt=\"Brandy Moser, Asistente Graduada de Investigaci\u00f3n Brandy asiste en el an\u00e1lisis de las muestras biol\u00f3gicas recolectadas en el estudio en el Lab. de Investigaci\u00f3n Dao de UNH.\" height=\"969\" width=\"968\" title=\"brandy_slide\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n\t<strong>Brandy Moser, MS, RDN<br \/>\n<\/strong>Research Assistant &amp; PhD Candidate\n<p>Brandy is a PhD Candidate in the Nutritional Sciences and registered dietitian. Her research focuses on the intersections of the gut microbiome, short-chain fatty acids, nutrition, and metabolic health. She works as a per diem inpatient dietitian at Maine Medical Center and has a passion for teaching. Outside of work, Brandy can be found wrangling her toddler and farm animals or working in the garden on her homestead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/100\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-19-at-8.36.57\u202fAM.png\" alt=\"Rawan AlSarraf, Asistente Graduada de Investigaci\u00f3n Brandy asiste en el an\u00e1lisis de las muestras biol\u00f3gicas recolectadas en el estudio en el Lab. de Investigaci\u00f3n Dao de UNH.\" height=\"970\" width=\"970\" title=\"Rawan AlSarraf\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n\t<strong>Rawan AlSarraf, M.Sc.<br \/>\n<\/strong>Research Assistant &amp; PhD Candidate \n<p>Rawan\u00a0is a PhD candidate in the Nutritional Sciences program at UNH, and a research assistant in the Dao Research Lab. Her educational background spans across clinical and research applications of nutrition. She is especially interested in nutrition epidemiology and data analysis. Outside of the nutrition world, her life revolves around 3 C&#8217;s: cooking, cycling, and cats.<\/p>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/100\/2023\/05\/yt_pic_for_bio.png\" alt=\"Yobanna Taylor, Int\u00e9rprete M\u00e9dica\nYobanna traduce los materiales de estudio y conduce entrevistas telef\u00f3nicas con participantes que prefieren el idioma espa\u00f1ol.\" height=\"400\" width=\"389\" title=\"Yobanna_slide\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n\t<strong>Yobanna Taylor, B.S.<br \/>\n<\/strong>Project Coordinator | Bilingual: Spanish &amp; English\n<p>Yobanna coordinates the study visits and conducts the study interviews; she also focuses in recruitment and community outreach. She loves to be in contact with the community of NH and hopes to keep contributing to research through her work at UNH. She enjoys baking, traveling, reading, and spending time with her family.<\/p>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/100\/2026\/09\/Frankie_GradSchoolHeadshot_2.png\" alt=\"Frankie\" height=\"1752\" width=\"1168\" title=\"Frankie\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n\t<strong>Frankie Schembri, B.S., M.S.<br \/>\n<\/strong>Graduate Research Assistant \n<p>Frankie is a PhD student in Nutritional Sciences at UNH studying connections between diet, the oral and gut microbiomes, and chronic inflammatory diseases. She is particularly interested in how diet and the microbiome influence individual responses to probiotic interventions and inform strategies for healthy aging. She aims to become a clinical registered dietitian and researcher working with older adults, translating nutrition research into clinical practice to inform medical nutrition therapy for age-related and chronic illnesses. Before studying at UNH, Frankie worked as a science and technology journalist.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\t<p>To learn more about ongoing and future research study opportunities, please submit a contact form on our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mypages.unh.edu\/dao-lab\/contact_owner\">Contact Us<\/a>\u00a0page. You may also reach the lab at 603-862-4260.<\/p>\n<h5>\n\t\t\tLab Mascots\t<\/h5>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maria Carlota Dao, Ph.D. Lab Director and Assistant Professor Dr. Maria Carlota Dao is an Assistant Professor of Human Nutrition in the Department of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems at the University of New Hampshire. As an interdisciplinary scientist focused on obesity research, she investigates the interplay of cardiometabolic risks, dietary and psychosocial factors, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-100","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":529,"href":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100\/revisions\/529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.usnh.edu\/dao-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}