I am working in the Pathology department under the joint supervision of Drs. Naomi McGovern and Emma Poole to investigate the molecular mechanisms deployed by placental macrophages to protect the placenta from cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Human CMV virus (HCMV), a member of the Herpesviridae family, is particularly widespread—1 in 3 US children are infected by age 5 and 90% of US adults infected by age 80— and is the most common congenital infection in high-income countries. Nearly half of symptomatic newborns with congenital CMV infection will suffer disabilities including sensorineural loss, intrauterine growth restriction, and cognitive or visual impairment, all of which have lifelong health implications. Asymptomatic HCMV-infected newborns have a 5-15% probability of developing disabilities. As part of this Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research (CTR)-funded project, I will be deploying a variety of techniques ranging from primary cell culture, flow cytometry and bioinformatics to better understand how the placental tissue-resident macrophages in pregnancy, known as Hofbauer cells, interact with HCMV.
