Meltem Karataş graduated from Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine in 2012 and worked in the Physiology Department of Ege University, Faculty of Medicine as a research assistant for a short period before commencing her doctoral studies in 2014.

She obtained her Ph.D. degree in neuroscience from both Strasbourg University, France and Freiburg University, Germany as part of the Erasmus+ NeuroTime Joint Doctoral Program in 2019. Her research focused on the investigation of brain structural and functional connectivity signatures of chronic pain-induced depression, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a mouse model.

She joined UMRAM in 2020, she is particularly interested in rodent neuroimaging as a translational tool to shed light on the pathophysiology of neurological and psychiatric disorders, to develop diagnostic markers and novel therapeutic strategies.