During her time at high school Cherry completed work experience in laboratories in New York City.
[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 at Harvard Medical School, where she worked with Norbert Perrimon on the development of high-throughput screening to monitor virus-host cell interactions.
[4] Cherry studies viral pathogenesis, which includes both the ways viruses replicate and the anti-virus mechanisms within host cells.
[3] Her research makes use of the model organism drosophila, high-throughput screening, functional genomics and forward genetics to better identify the genes that impact the life cycle of a virus.
[10] Alongside her work in virology, Cherry has started to screen acute leukaemia patients to better understand how they will respond to advance therapeutics.
[11][12] 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.
[11] As the availability of N95 masks decreased, Cherry purchased several powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) battery-driven hoods that circulate filtered air for members of her research team.
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.