Donna M. Tscherne

B.S., Cornell University
Viruses on Acid: Studies of HCV and BVDV Cell Entry
presented by Charles M. Rice

Donna Tscherne is a Jersey girl, who graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University in Ithaca. During her undergraduate years, Donna became hooked on research through her experiences as an exchange student at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala and the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research. Although her early experiences stemmed from a broad interest in biotechnology, Donna became increasingly interested in the host-pathogen interface. Fortunately for us, Donna entered the Rockefeller Ph.D. program and joined our group. Parenthetically, this occurred as a consequence of cold-room-induced hypothermia during a rotation in Bob Roeder’s lab (which dampened her enthusiasm for biochemistry).
Donna has really blossomed at Rockefeller. She conducted a screen and identified key determinants of how one virus infecting a cell can exclude infection of the same cell by another virus. Donna also spearheaded our lab’s studies on how the hepatitis C virus enters cells. She showed that while the virus itself is resistant to acidic conditions, it requires a low-pH environment for productive entry.
The viral entry process is slow and requires multiple interactions with host cell molecules to render the virus competent for membrane fusion and delivery of its RNA payload into the host cell where translation and replication can occur. Donna has labored on these challenging projects with zeal and precision. She is remarkably well organized and possesses a “can do” attitude that carries her past difficult obstacles.
She is known in the lab not only for her experimental prowess, speed walking and champagne consumption but also for her world-class cupcakes. Donna will be moving on to her next challenge — the study of pandemic strains of influenza virus — with Adolfo Garcia-Sastre at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. I am sure Donna will continue her stellar trajectory in this new and very important endeavor.