Paola Lahuatte arrived in 2013 as a volunteer of the project "Finding Alternatives to Control the Invasive fly Philornis downsi". Her undergraduate thesis focused on developing a method for raising the fly under laboratory conditions so that scientists can find a method for its control.

In 2014 she graduated from the Central University of Ecuador (Quito) and the following year she worked as an intern with Dr. George Heimpel in studies to find a natural enemy for the Philornis downsi fly at the University of Minnesota (USA). Paola currently oversees the Philornis downsi laboratory at the Charles Darwin Research Station and continues collaborating in studies to control the invasive fly in Galapagos.