We are pleased to announce that Carolyn Coyne, PhD will join the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and the Duke Human Vaccine Institute as a faculty member on April 1, 2021. Dr. Coyne comes to Duke from the University of Pittsburgh as part of the Duke Endowment Science and Technology Initiative to expand research and faculty in science, medicine, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Dr. Coyne received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and postdoctoral training in microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 2007, she joined the University of Pittsburgh as a faculty member in its departments of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics; Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences; Pediatrics; and Immunology. Dr. Coyne went on to become the Director of the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
The Coyne laboratory studies the mechanisms by which cellular barriers restrict microbial infection and the means by which microbes have evolved to penetrate these barriers to cause human disease. Her work focuses on the gastrointestinal tract and human placental barriers, and how viruses like cytomegalovirus, Rubella, and Zika overcome this barrier to damage the fetus.
Visit coynelab.com to learn more about Dr. Coyne's work.