Charlotte defended her dissertation in endocrinology at the University of Gothenburg in 2002 and after a job as a postdoctoral fellow at Lund University, where she studied genetics of type 2 diabetes, she devotes her research to studies of epigenetic mechanisms that cause type 2 diabetes and metabolic disease.

Her research team has been a pioneer in epigenetics in type 2 diabetes. They have made several groundbreaking discoveries such as identifying epigenetic changes in the insulin-producing islets of the pancreas, skeletal muscle, adipose tissue and liver of patients with type 2 diabetes compared to non-diabetic controls.

Dr. Ling's research group has also shown that genetic and non-genetic factors such as SNP, exercise, diet, obesity and age alter epigenetic patterns in human tissues with significance for type 2 diabetes.

Further information about Charlotte's research can be found at Lund University's Research Portal.