{{short description|American immunologist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Erika Pearce | image = | caption = | image_size = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1972}} | birth_place = North Fork, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | residence = | nationality = | field = {{Plainlist| * Immunology * Metabolism}} | work_institutions = {{Plainlist| *Johns Hopkins University *Washington University in St. Louis * Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics}} | alma_mater = Cornell University<br>University of Pennsylvania | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | known_for = | thesis_url = | thesis_title = Development of CD8 T cell responses | thesis_year = 2005 | prizes = {{Plainlist| * Leibniz Prize (2018)}} | religion = | website = {{URL|https://www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/pearce}} }}
'''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,<ref name="Leibniz">{{cite web |title=Leibniz Prize 2018 for Erika Pearce |url=https://www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/leibniz2018-eng |publisher=Max Planck Institute |access-date=November 21, 2022 |date=December 14, 2017 |archive-date=November 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122031040/https://www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/leibniz2018-eng |url-status=live }}</ref> and grew up in North Fork, Long Island, New York.<ref name="O’Donnell">{{cite journal |last1=O’Donnell |first1=Marie Anne |title=Erika Pearce: Fitting metabolism and immunity together, to a T |journal=Journal of Cell Biology |date=July 2, 2018 |volume=21 |issue=7 |pages=2223–2224 |doi=10.1083/jcb.201806055 |pmid=29921602 |pmc=6028542 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erika L. Pearce, Ph.D. |url=https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/details/erika-pearce |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |access-date=November 21, 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Diabetes drug may help fight cancer, mouse study suggests |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/diabetes-drug-may-help-fight-cancer-mouse-study-suggests-1.849236 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=November 21, 2022 |date=June 3, 2009}}</ref>
==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 (WashU Medicine) in St. Louis.<ref name="Leibniz"/> During her tenure at WashU Medicine, 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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Purdy |first1=Michael C. |title=Immune system memory cells have trick for self preservation |url=https://source.wustl.edu/2012/01/immune-system-memory-cells-have-trick-for-self-preservation/ |publisher=Washington University in St. Louis |access-date=November 21, 2022 |date=January 18, 2012 |archive-date=November 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122031034/https://source.wustl.edu/2012/01/immune-system-memory-cells-have-trick-for-self-preservation/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Purdy |first1=Michael C. |title=Tumors disable immune cells by using up sugar |url=https://source.wustl.edu/2013/06/tumors-disable-immune-cells-by-using-up-sugar/ |publisher=Washington University in St. Louis |access-date=November 21, 2022 |date=June 6, 2013}}</ref> In March 2014, Pearce was promoted to the rank of associate professor of pathology and immunology at WashU Medicine.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 21, 2014 |title=TRUSTEES GRANT FACULTY PROMOTIONS, TENURE |url=https://hopecenter.wustl.edu/?p=13025 |access-date=November 21, 2022 |publisher=Washington University in St. Louis |archive-date=November 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122031043/https://hopecenter.wustl.edu/?p=13025 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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<ref>{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Russ |title=BWF Invests $21 Million In Biomedical Research |url=https://www.bwfund.org/news/bwf-invests-21-million-in-biomedical-research/ |publisher=Burroughs Wellcome Fund |access-date=November 21, 2022 |date=June 15, 2014}}</ref> and the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.<ref>{{cite web |title=Medical researcher Pearce receives nearly $1.8 million in grants |url=https://source.wustl.edu/2015/08/medical-researcher-pearce-receives-nearly-18-million-in-grants/ |publisher=Washington University in St. Louis |access-date=November 21, 2022 |date=August 11, 2015}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erika Pearce – new director at the MPI-IE |url=https://www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/4613028/2015_10_12_Pearce_new_director_eng |publisher=Max-Planck-Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics |access-date=November 21, 2022 |date=October 12, 2015}}</ref> In 2018, she was awarded the Leibniz Prize for her "outstanding work in metabolism and inflammation research."<ref name="Leibniz"/> Pearce returned to the United States in 2022 to become the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cruickshank |first1=Saralyn |title=Molecular biologist Erika Pearce joins Johns Hopkins as Bloomberg Distinguished Professor |url=https://hub.jhu.edu/2021/04/06/erika-pearce-bloomberg-distinguished-professor/ |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |access-date=November 21, 2022 |date=April 6, 2021}}</ref>
In 2026, Pearce was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 28, 2026|title=National Academy of Sciences Elects Members and International Members - NAS|url=https://www.nasonline.org/news/2026-nas-election/|url-status=live|access-date=May 6, 2026|website=National Academy of Sciences|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Publications == {{Asof|2021}}, Pearce has more than 18,000 citations in Google Scholar and an h-index of 49.<ref>{{Google scholar id|n45mM5wAAAAJ}}</ref>
=== Highly cited articles (''more than 1000 citations'') === * {{cite journal | last1=Gubin | first1=Matthew M. | last2=Zhang | first2=Xiuli | last3=Schuster | first3=Heiko | last4=Caron | first4=Etienne | last5=Ward | first5=Jeffrey P. | last6=Noguchi | first6=Takuro | last7=Ivanova | first7=Yulia | last8=Hundal | first8=Jasreet | last9=Arthur | first9=Cora D. | last10=Krebber | first10=Willem-Jan | last11=Mulder | first11=Gwenn E. | last12=Toebes | first12=Mireille | last13=Vesely | first13=Matthew D. | last14=Lam | first14=Samuel S. K. | last15=Korman | first15=Alan J. | last16=Allison | first16=James P. | last17=Freeman | first17=Gordon J. | last18=Sharpe | first18=Arlene H. | last19=Pearce | first19=Erika L. | last20=Schumacher | first20=Ton N. | last21=Aebersold | first21=Ruedi | last22=Rammensee | first22=Hans-Georg | last23=Melief | first23=Cornelis J. M. | last24=Mardis | first24=Elaine R. | last25=Gillanders | first25=William E. | last26=Artyomov | first26=Maxim N. | last27=Schreiber | first27=Robert D. | title=Checkpoint blockade cancer immunotherapy targets tumour-specific mutant antigens | journal=Nature | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=515 | issue=7528 | date=November 26, 2014 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/nature13988 | pages=577–581| pmid=25428507 | pmc=4279952 | bibcode=2014Natur.515..577G }} * {{cite journal | last1=Chang | first1=Chih-Hao | last2=Qiu | first2=Jing | last3=O’Sullivan | first3=David | last4=Buck | first4=Michael D. | last5=Noguchi | first5=Takuro | last6=Curtis | first6=Jonathan D. | last7=Chen | first7=Qiongyu | last8=Gindin | first8=Mariel | last9=Gubin | first9=Matthew M. | last10=van der Windt | first10=Gerritje J.W. | last11=Tonc | first11=Elena | last12=Schreiber | first12=Robert D. | last13=Pearce | first13=Edward J. | last14=Pearce | first14=Erika L. | title=Metabolic Competition in the Tumor Microenvironment Is a Driver of Cancer Progression | journal=Cell | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=162 | issue=6 | year=2015 | issn=0092-8674 | doi=10.1016/j.cell.2015.08.016 | pages=1229–1241| pmid=26321679 | pmc=4864363 | s2cid=10739910 }} * {{cite journal | last1=Chang | first1=Chih-Hao | last2=Curtis | first2=Jonathan D. | last3=Maggi | first3=Leonard B. | last4=Faubert | first4=Brandon | last5=Villarino | first5=Alejandro V. | last6=O’Sullivan | first6=David | last7=Huang | first7=Stanley Ching-Cheng | last8=van der Windt | first8=Gerritje J.W. | last9=Blagih | first9=Julianna | last10=Qiu | first10=Jing | last11=Weber | first11=Jason D. | last12=Pearce | first12=Edward J. | last13=Jones | first13=Russell G. | last14=Pearce | first14=Erika L. | title=Posttranscriptional Control of T Cell Effector Function by Aerobic Glycolysis | journal=Cell | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=153 | issue=6 | year=2013 | issn=0092-8674 | doi=10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.016 | pages=1239–1251| pmid=23746840 | pmc=3804311 }} * {{cite journal | last1=Pearce | first1=Erika L. | last2=Walsh | first2=Matthew C. | last3=Cejas | first3=Pedro J. | last4=Harms | first4=Gretchen M. | last5=Shen | first5=Hao | last6=Wang | first6=Li-San | last7=Jones | first7=Russell G. | last8=Choi | first8=Yongwon | title=Enhancing CD8 T-cell memory by modulating fatty acid metabolism | journal=Nature | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=460 | issue=7251 | date=June 3, 2009 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/nature08097 | pages=103–107| pmid=19494812 | pmc=2803086 | bibcode=2009Natur.460..103P }} * {{cite journal | last1=van der Windt | first1=Gerritje J.W. | last2=Everts | first2=Bart | last3=Chang | first3=Chih-Hao | last4=Curtis | first4=Jonathan D. | last5=Freitas | first5=Tori C. | last6=Amiel | first6=Eyal | last7=Pearce | first7=Edward J. | last8=Pearce | first8=Erika L. | title=Mitochondrial Respiratory Capacity Is a Critical Regulator of CD8+ T Cell Memory Development | journal=Immunity | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=36 | issue=1 | year=2012 | issn=1074-7613 | doi=10.1016/j.immuni.2011.12.007 | pages=68–78| pmid=22206904 | pmc=3269311 }}
==See also== * Timeline of women in science
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Google Scholar id |n45mM5wAAAAJ}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Erika L.}} Category:Living people Category:1972 births Category:20th-century American biologists Category:20th-century American women biologists Category:20th-century American women scientists Category:21st-century American biologists Category:American immunologists Category:American women medical researchers Category:American medical researchers Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Max Planck Institute directors Category:Max Planck Society people Category:Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:Washington University School of Medicine faculty Category:21st-century American women biologists