Mary Downey Coyne

Mary D. Coyne is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Wellesley College. Since arriving at the College in 1970, Professor Coyne has taught introductory biology, cellular physiology, human biology for non-majors, comparative physiology, advanced vertebrate physiology and endocrinology. Her major research interests have been in endocrinology, more specifically in signal transduction in the response of the adrenal cortex, to stimulation by the hormone ACTH. More recently, Professor Coyne's research interests have focused on thermoregulation in women, specifically, the effects of female reproductive hormones on the biological rhythms in basal body temperature.

Professor Coyne received an A.B. degree from Emmanuel College in Boston in 1959 with a concentration in Biology and minors in Chemistry and Education. She earned an M.A. in Zoology from Wellesley College in 1961 working with Professor Virginia Fiske on hormonal secretions by the pineal gland. Professor Coyne continued her work in endocrinology at the University of Virginia Medical School and received a Ph.D. in physiology from University of Virginia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1964.

Dr. Coyne has published numerous articles in endocrine and physiology journals and has delivered papers at meetings of both the Endocrine Society and American Society of Physiology. Her major body of work on the adrenal focused on the role of calcium in signal transduction and recent papers examined the hormonal regulation of various types of calcium channels. Dr. Coyne's present work on thermoregulation in women is a cooperative project between Wellesley College and colleagues in the Thermal and Mountain Division at the U.S. Army's Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick Massachusetts.