Sara Cherry

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 the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research involves genetic and mechanistic studies of virus–host interactions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cherry looked to identify novel therapeutic strategies.

Early life and education Cherry grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother was born in Germany in a displaced persons camp and migrated to the United States. Her father was from Poland and passed through Ellis Island. She eventually studied chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 1994. During her undergraduate research she looked at new synthesis pathways for drug scaffolds with Peter G. Schultz. During her research she recognised that, contrary to what was previously thought, demethylation was not responsible for the activation of V(D)J recombination. It was under the guidance of Baltimore that Cherry became fascinated by virology.

Research and career In 2006 Cherry joined the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Here she combined her experience with high-throughput RNA interference (RNAi) screening with other cell-based screening techniques. Arthropod-borne viruses contain very little genetic information (around 11 kilobytes), but can infect and replicate in a variety of hosts. Zika virus enters human cells through endocytosis, and bind to the cell's outer membrane via the clathrin. She has investigated remdesivir, an antiviral that was developed for the Ebola virus disease, and chloroquine, an antimalarial medication. Remdesivir is a nucleoside 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 an interferon.

The Cherry Lab Sara Cherry is the head of a laboratory at the University 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 how RNA binding proteins and RNA decay machinery act within innate antiviral. 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 to COVID-19. They have been able to conclude that when nucleoside biogenesis 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 of oncology and precision 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.

Awards and honours 2011 Burroughs Wellcome Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award 2019 Perelman School of Medicine Awards of Excellence Stanley N. Cohen Biomedical Research Award

Selected publications

Cherry serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Experimental Medicine. She serves on the Board of the Society of Functional Precision Medicine.