He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and he is mainly known for his pioneering work in the emerging area of co-design of bio/nano/CMOS interfaces as well as for his contributions to the design of nanoscale biological CMOS sensors.

He held a postdoctoral position at the University of Genoa, where he then became research associate and professor of optical and electrical biosensors at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Biophysics (DIBE).

He was also professor of nanobiotechnology at University of Bologna (Italy), before joining EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2007.

Major achievements of Carrara and his group are in the fields of electrochemical biosensors, bioelectronics, and circuits and systems, especially to investigate new methods and devices for biomedical applications in remote monitoring of human metabolism, drug monitoring, personalized medicine, and precision medicine.

He also made fundamental contributions in the field of biomolecular memristor.