Sara R. Cherry | |
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| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Microbiology |
| Institutions | University of Pennsylvania Harvard Medical School |
| Thesis | The regulation of V(D)J recombination (1999) |
| Doctoral advisor | David Baltimore |
Sara R. Cherry is an American microbiologist who is John W. Eckman Professor of Medical Science and Professor of Microbiology in Biochemistry and Biophysics at thePerelman School of Medicine at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[1] Her research involves genetic and mechanistic studies of virus–host interactions. During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Cherry looked to identify novel therapeutic strategies.
Cherry grew up inBrooklyn, New York.[2] Her mother was born inGermany in adisplaced persons camp and migrated to theUnited States. Her father was fromPoland and passed throughEllis Island.[2] Her parents were the first in their families to attend college and eventually became academics atBrooklyn College.[2] Her mother was eventually made Head ofAudiology at Brooklyn College. During her time at high school Cherry completed work experience in laboratories inNew York City.[2] Here she studied the feeding habits ofamoeba andproteoglycans.[3] She eventually studiedchemistry at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 1994.[4] During her undergraduate research she looked at new synthesis pathways for drug scaffolds withPeter G. Schultz.[4] She moved toMassachusetts Institute of Technology for her doctoral research, where she worked onV(D)J recombination withDavid Baltimore.[4][5] During her research she recognised that, contrary to what was previously thought,demethylation was not responsible for the activation of V(D)J recombination.[6] It was under the guidance of Baltimore that Cherry became fascinated byvirology.[3] When considering further research positions, Cherry knew that she wanted to learn more about viruses, and develop an unbiased, systematic genetic screening protocol.[3] She was a postdoctoral fellow atHarvard Medical School, where she worked withNorbert Perrimon on the development ofhigh-throughput screening to monitorvirus-host cell interactions.[4][7]
In 2006 Cherry joined thePerelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.[8] Here she combined her experience with high-throughputRNA interference (RNAi) screening with other cell-based screening techniques.[4] Cherry studies viral pathogenesis, which includes both the ways viruses replicate and the anti-virus mechanisms within host cells. She is interested in how viruses hijack the machinery within a cell whilst evading their defence mechanisms.[4] She primarily studiesarthropod–borne viruses that impactRNA, includingWest Nile virus andZika virus, as well asalphaviruses andbunyavirales.[9] Arthropod-borne viruses contain very little genetic information (around 11kilobytes), but can infect and replicate in a variety of hosts.[3] Her research makes use of the model organismdrosophila,high-throughput screening,functional genomics andforward genetics to better identify the genes that impact the life cycle of a virus.[9] In 2017 she demonstrated an inhibitor to Zika virus, a mosquito-borne virus that had previously evaded treatment.[10] Zika virus enters human cells throughendocytosis, and bind to the cell's outer membranevia theclathrin.[10] Cherry demonstrated that theantiviralNanchangmycin restricts this mode of entry.[10] Alongside her work in virology, Cherry has started to screenacute leukaemia patients to better understand how they will respond to advance therapeutics.[3]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic Cherry looked to identify novel therapeutic strategies, making use of her extensive small molecule library to identify chemical compounds that are active againstSARS-CoV-2.[11] She has investigatedremdesivir, an antiviral that was developed for theEbola virus disease, andchloroquine, anantimalarial medication.[11] She used the high-throughput screening facility at thebiosafety level-3 laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania to screen thousands of drugs at a time.[11][12] Remdesivir is anucleoside analogue that tries to stop the spread of the virus by forcing it to make mistakes when replicating its RNA, causing the strands themselves to break. She has also considered therapies that prevent the virus from ever entering cells, either through the modification of the virus or the host itself. The treatment may also come in the form of aninterferon.[11] To determine which treatments will be most appropriate, Cherry looks to identify which proteins SARS-CoV-2 makes use of for infection.[11] As the availability ofN95 masks decreased, Cherry purchased severalpowered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) battery-driven hoods that circulate filtered air for members of her research team.[13]
Sara Cherry is the head of a laboratory at theUniversity of Pennsylvania's Pathology Department. The main focus of this lab is to research the connection between viruses and their hosts. Recently, they have been researching howRNA binding proteins and RNA decay machinery act within innateantiviral. This has been looked into and applied mainly on COVID-19. In the past, the Cherry Lab has conducted studies on the role of antivirals when it comes toCOVID-19. They have been able to conclude that whennucleosidebiogenesis inhibitors are combined with nucleoside analogs,SARS-CoV-2 infection can be blocked. Getting a better grasp of this concept is the focus of their future studies. The Cherry Lab also performs research in the fields ofoncology andprecision medicine, and they do so by working with other scientists across the University of Pennsylvania. The laboratory employs scientists of all skill levels and statuses.[14]
Cherry serves on the editorial board of theJournal of Experimental Medicine.[19] She serves on the Board of the Society of Functional Precision Medicine.[20]
Authority control databases: Academics |
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