With no direct federal funding for Zika research and mosquitoes already infecting Floridians with the virus, the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in collaboration with a Brazilian research foundation is funding research on its own.

During a public event Thursday, Pitt’s Cura Zika (Cure Zika) program announced six research grant winners, including four based at Pitt, with $400,000 available through a $200,000 contribution from the university that was matched by an anonymous donor.

Those studies, most already underway, focus on how the virus infects the mother’s placenta leading to infection of brain cells of the fetus, with others working to understand the infection process as a means of developing vaccines to stop the explosive pandemic in South American, Central America and Caribbean nations that has reached mainland United States.

Jennifer Adibi, an assistant professor at Pitt Public Health, said her study will focus on the viral impact on the placenta during the first trimester of pregnancy, including how and when the infection actually occurs, with hope of determining the best timeline to prevent infections and understand when the fetus is most prone to developing microcephaly, among other details.

How dendritic cells the quarterbacks of the immune system respond to the Zika virus infection is the focus of research by Robbie Mailliard, also an assistant professor at Pitt Public Health.