During the height of the Zika epidemic, when pregnant women were urged to avoid being bitten by the mosquito vectors carrying the virus, microbiologist Carolyn Coyne was researching how the disease could break through the placenta and infect the fetus.
In an interview with NPR, Coyne described the work as a mystery, because the placenta typically does a good job at what it’s supposed to do, which is prevent anything harmful from reaching the fetus.
“Not only do we have to understand how Zika virus accesses the fetus, but I think we need to focus our attention on understanding and developing therapies for pregnant women just more generally,” Coyne said in the interview.
Coyne, who joined the Duke faculty in July 2021 as a professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, studies fetal development and diseases that can affect fetuses as they grow in the womb. She spoke more about her work identifying blockades to the Zika virus in a 2021 interview with Duke Med Alumni News.
In 2022, she was awarded the George Barth Geller Distinguished Professorship of Immunology, the highest honor the university can bestow upon a faculty member.
Coyne came from the University of Pittsburgh, saying she was drawn to the Duke for its proximity to Research Triangle Park and the world-class scientists here working in reproductive health, microbiology, immunology, and gastroenterology. She’s no stranger to the area, having earned her Ph.D at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
While in Pittsburgh, Coyne and her team developed a 3-D model of the placenta’s outer boundary, the barrier that forms in very early pregnancy to better understand how pathogens such as Zika reach the fetus.
Her long-term goal is to identify pathogen- and host-specific therapeutic targets to prevent or treat microbial infections and ultimately seeks to alleviate the morbidity and mortality caused by these infections, she says.
