Jon Cherry

Background

Dr. Cherry is an Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He completed his undergraduate studies with a BS in biology at Ursinus College in 2008. He earned his doctoral degree in Pathology from the University of Rochester in 2015. Dr. Cherry joined the McKee laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher the same year. He was appointed as an assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine in 2019. Dr. Cherry also holds a research health scientist position within the VA Boston Healthcare System. His laboratory space is located at the Jamaica Plain VA hospital where he performs his research and helps support the VA-BU-CLF brain bank.

Research Interests

Dr. Cherry’s research interests focus on understanding how neuroinflammation after repetitive traumatic brain injury contributes to CTE pathogenesis. Specifically, Dr. Cherry seeks to identify what role microglia and inflammatory cytokines play in the early onset of hyperphosphorylated tau accumulation and spread.

Dr. Cherry’s research also extends to histology analysis. He is the director of the digital pathology hub present within the BU CTE Center. This research entails exploring novel ways to analyze human postmortem tissue for neuropathologic targets and better characterize pathology across a spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, motor neuron diseases, and others.

Select Publications

A full list of publications can be found here

1. Cherry, J.D., Tripodis, Y., Alvarez, V.E., Huber, B., Kiernan, P.T., Daneshvar, D.H., Mez, J., Montenigro, P.H., Solomon, T.M., Alosco, M.L., et al. (2016). Microglial neuroinflammation contributes to tau accumulation in chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Acta neuropathologica communications 4, 112.

2. Cherry, J.D., Olschowka, J.A., and O’Banion, M.K. (2015). Arginase 1+ microglia reduce Aβ plaque deposition during IL-1β-dependent neuroinflammation. Journal of Neuroinflammation 12.

3. Cherry, J.D., Olschowka, J.A., and O’Banion, M.K. (2014). Neuroinflammation and M2 microglia: the good, the bad, and the inflamed. J Neuroinflammation 11, 98.

4. Cherry, J.D., Liu, B., Frost, J.L., Lemere, C.A., Williams, J.P., Olschowka, J.A., and O’Banion, M.K. (2012). Galactic cosmic radiation leads to cognitive impairment and increased abeta plaque accumulation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. PLoS One 7, e53275.