A viral infection in the heart can kill the fittest athlete, but
most people who contract such a virus fend it off, and it goes
undetected. Dr. Barbara Sherry, a professor of virology in the
College of Veterinary Medicine, believes that understanding how
the heart protects itself could lead to new ways of helping the
whole body fight off viruses. “The heart is constantly being
barraged by viruses in the bloodstream,” she says. “Why do we
win the battle most of the time?” Infusion for Research Sherry
used a one-year, $375,000 Recovery Act-funded grant from the
National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases to hire
two research associates to help study mechanisms the heart uses
to protect itself: an antiviral response that differs from the
response of other cells in the body and a protein that might
help cardiac cells repair themselves. That work has shown enough
promise that the National Institutes of Health has awarded
Sherry a five-year, $1.8 million grant to continue the projects.
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