Caitlyn Pelletier is a Ph.D. candidate in Nutrition, working with Dr. Martha Field. Before coming to Cornell, she earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in Neuroscience and Nutrition Science. Caitlyn is interested in brain-nutrient interactions and their implications for human health. Now in Dr. Field's lab, Caitlyn is studying the role of folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism on Parkinson's Disease pathology, with a specific focus on mitochondrial dynamics.

Caitlyn currently works in Dr. Martha Field’s lab, which studies mitochondrial folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism (FOCM). Her specific research focuses on the role of impaired FOCM on mitochondrial function in Parkinson’s disease. The laboratory uses several in vitro and in vivo model systems to study the mechanisms that underlie physiological outcomes associated with perturbed FOCM.

  • Physiology and Behavior, 299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2025.115003. Geisler, C. E., Chichura, K. S., Orativskyi, O., Hu, J., Belser, D. L., Pelletier, C. M., Borner, T., Baumer-Harrison, C., De Jonghe, B. C., Crist, R. C., Reiner, B. C., Doyle, R. P., & Hayes, M. R. (2025). 
  • Hindbrain octadecaneuropeptide gliotransmission as a therapeutic target for energy balance control without nausea or emesis. Science Translational Medicine, 17(808). https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adu6764. Castillo, L. F., Pelletier, C. M., Heyden, K. E., & Field, M. S. (2025). 
  • New Insights into Folate-Vitamin B12 Interactions. Annual Review of Nutrition, 45(1), 23–39. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nutr-120524-043056. Geisler, C. E., Décarie-Spain, L., Loh, M. K., Trumbauer, W., Gaisinsky, J., Klug, M. E., Pelletier, C., Davis, J. F., Schmidt, H. D., Roitman, M. F., Kanoski, S. E., & Hayes, M. R. (2024). 
  • Amylin Modulates a Ventral Tegmental Area–to–Medial Prefrontal Cortex Circuit to Suppress Food Intake and Impulsive Food-Directed Behavior. Biological Psychiatry, 95(10). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.07.011.
2023, B.A., Neuroscience and Nutritional Sciences, University of Pennsylvania