Dr Carolina Coelho

About me:

I was always interested in microbes and the diseases they cause. I completed a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of Porto, Portugal in my native Portugal. I did my graduate studies in joint-mentorship from Teresa Gonçalves at University of Coimbra and Arturo Casadevall at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx.

I continued my postdoctoral studies still in the pathogenesis of Cryptococcus neoformans with Arturo Casadevall, now at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore. This included work in deciphering kinetics of early invasion, and in role of key virulence factors in surviving inside macrophages and mediating brain invasion. Other work included obtaining insights into polysaccharide antigens, and testing protection to new carbohydrate conjugates.

Since 2019, I am a Group Leader and Lecturer in the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, studying innate immunity to C. neoformans infections.

Since 2022, I am a Senior Lecturer in the University of Exeter.

We use high content microscopy to decipher mucosal immunology in the upper airway and in the brain, particularly in the context of lethal meningitis, as well as other classical immunological tools. We will continue to work in the role of macrophage function and immunometabolism in mediating tissue protection and homeostasis.

Interests:

Cryptococcus neoformans is responsible for almost 200,000 deaths each year, more than any other fungal pathogen. Cryptococcal infection is incredibly difficult to treat, sometimes requiring lifelong therapy, and the best medical treatment cannot avoid a mortality rate as high as 30%. My primary research interest is to understand how cells from the innate immune system recognize and kill this pathogenic yeast. My focus is the recently discovered immune functions of mitochondria. By understanding what constitutes an effective fungicidal response, and why this effective response sometimes fails, we will be able to find better solutions to treat this killer disease.

Qualifications:

PhD