Erika L. Pearce Explained

Erika Pearce
Birth Place:North Fork, New York, USA
Alma Mater:BSc, Cornell University
PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Thesis Title:Development of CD8 T cell responses
Thesis Year:2005

Erika L. Pearce is an American immunologist. She is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins University after serving as director and a scientific member at Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, Germany. Her work investigates the connection between metabolism and immune cell function with a particular focus on the regulation of T-cells. In 2018, she was awarded the Leibniz Prize for her "outstanding work in metabolism and inflammation research."

Early life and education

Pearce was born in 1972,[1] and grew up in North Fork, Long Island, New York.[2] She completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Cornell University in 1998 and earned her PhD in cell and molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005.[3] While completing her postdoctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Pearce began her research into how cellular metabolic processes govern immune responses to infection and cancer.[4]

Career

Upon completing her postdoctoral studies, Pearce joined the Trudeau Institute in New York City from 2009 until 2011. She left the non-profit in 2011 to become an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Immunology at the Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) in St. Louis.[1] During her tenure at WUSM, Pearce expanded on her earlier research into memory T cells. In 2012, her research team found that the production of additional mitochondria is triggered by interleukin-15. She also found that genetically manipulating T cell's mitochondria could cause a higher percentage of undifferentiated T cells to become memory cells.[5] Pearce and her colleagues also found evidence that suggested cancer cells could disable T cells ability to fight off tumors and some kinds of infection. Her research team found that withholding sugar from T cells, the cells no longer produced interferon gamma.[6] In March 2014, Pearce was promoted to the rank of associate professor of pathology and immunology at WUSM.[7] In her new role, Pearce received two grants to assist her research into cellular metabolism in immunity to infection. She received a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund[8] and the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.[9]

Pearce left North America in September 2015 to become the director and a scientific member at Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, Germany.[10] In 2018, she was awarded the Leibniz Prize for her "outstanding work in metabolism and inflammation research."[1] Pearce returned to the United States in 2022 to become the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University.[11]

Publications

, Pearce has more than 18,000 citations in Google Scholar and an h-index of 49.

Highly cited articles (more than 1000 citations)

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Leibniz Prize 2018 for Erika Pearce . Max Planck Institute . November 21, 2022 . December 14, 2017.
  2. O’Donnell . Marie Anne . Erika Pearce: Fitting metabolism and immunity together, to a T . . July 2, 2018 . 21 . 7 . 2223–2224 . 10.1083/jcb.201806055 . 29921602 . 6028542 .
  3. Web site: Erika L. Pearce, Ph.D. . Johns Hopkins University . November 21, 2022.
  4. Web site: Diabetes drug may help fight cancer, mouse study suggests . Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . November 21, 2022 . June 3, 2009.
  5. Web site: Purdy . Michael C. . Immune system memory cells have trick for self preservation . Washington University in St. Louis . November 21, 2022 . January 18, 2012.
  6. Web site: Purdy . Michael C. . Tumors disable immune cells by using up sugar . Washington University in St. Louis . November 21, 2022 . June 6, 2013.
  7. Web site: April 21, 2014 . TRUSTEES GRANT FACULTY PROMOTIONS, TENURE . November 21, 2022 . . November 22, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221122031043/https://hopecenter.wustl.edu/?p=13025 . dead .
  8. Web site: Campbell . Russ . BWF Invests $21 Million In Biomedical Research . . November 21, 2022 . June 15, 2014.
  9. Web site: Medical researcher Pearce receives nearly $1.8 million in grants . Washington University in St. Louis . November 21, 2022 . August 11, 2015.
  10. Web site: Erika Pearce – new director at the MPI-IE . Max-Planck-Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics . November 21, 2022 . October 12, 2015.
  11. Web site: Cruickshank . Saralyn . Molecular biologist Erika Pearce joins Johns Hopkins as Bloomberg Distinguished Professor . Johns Hopkins University . November 21, 2022 . April 6, 2021.

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