Prof Jason Mercer PhD

Prof Jason Mercer

School of Biosciences
Professor of Virus Cell Biology

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 2685
Email
j.p.mercer@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@MercerLab
View my research portal
Address
Institute of Microbiology and Infection
Biosciences Building
Edgbaston
Birmingham

The Mercer Lab is interested in deciphering the complex interactions between poxviruses and their host cells during all stages of the infection cycle.

Qualifications

PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2005

BA in Biological Sciences and Chemistry, Northern Illinois University, 1998

Biography

Jason Mercer received his PhD in Molecular Virology from the Medical College of Wisconsin in the laboratory of Prof. Paula Traktman. He then moved to Zurich, Switzerland to the lab of Prof. Ari Helenius for postdoctoral training. In 2014, Jason moved to the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, University College London as an MRC Programme Leader in Virus Cell Biology. In 2019, Jason joined the Institute of Microbiology and Infection where his group will continue to combine classic virology and cell biology with state-of the art technologies to investigate the complex interactions between poxviruses and their host cells.

Teaching

Prof Mercer will be involved in Undergraduate and Postgraduate teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Prof Mercer is not currently recruiting Doctoral (PhD) students or Masters students

Research

As obligate intracellular parasites viruses rely on host cell factors for all stages of their replication.  Our group is interested in deciphering the complex interactions that occur between poxviruses and their host cells during infection.

We investigate how viruses initiate their internalization by endocytosis, and how they utilize transport within cellular endocytic systems to their advantage.  We are also analyzing how the viral genome and accessory proteins escape into the cytosol, and how replication proceeds.

For these we combine cellular, molecular, and virological techniques with state-of-the-art technologies such as automated small compound and image-based siRNA screening, advanced proteomics, super-resolution, live cell microscopy, and electron microscopy. Our particular interests lie in uncovering novel mechanisms by which poxviruses subjugate host cell functions to facilitate their entry, replication, and spread.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Martin, CK, Samolej, J, Olson, AT, Bertoli, C, Wiebe, MS, De Bruin, RAM & Mercer, J 2022, 'Vaccinia Virus Arrests and Shifts the Cell Cycle', Viruses, vol. 14, no. 2, 431. https://doi.org/10.3390/v14020431

Wood, JJ, White, IJ, Samolej, J & Mercer, J 2021, 'Acrylamide inhibits vaccinia virus through vimentin‐independent anti‐viral granule formation', Cellular Microbiology, vol. 23, no. 8, e13334. https://doi.org/10.1111/cmi.13334

Welten, SPM, Oderbolz, J, Yilmaz, V, Bidgood, SR, Gould, V, Mercer, J, Spörri, R & Oxenius, A 2021, 'Influenza- and MCMV-induced memory CD8 T cells control respiratory vaccinia virus infection despite residence in distinct anatomical niches', Mucosal immunology, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 728-742. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41385-020-00373-4

Huttunen, M, Samolej, J, Evans, RJ, Yakimovich, A, White, IJ, Kriston-Vizi, J, Martin-Serrano, J, Sundquist, WI, Frickel, E-M & Mercer, J 2021, 'Vaccinia virus hijacks ESCRT-mediated multivesicular body formation for virus egress', Life Science Alliance, vol. 4, no. 8, e202000910. https://doi.org/10.26508/lsa.202000910

Yakimovich, A, Huttunen, M, Samolej, J, Clough, B, Yoshida, N, Mostowy, S, Frickel, E-M & Mercer, J 2020, 'Mimicry Embedding Facilitates Advanced Neural Network Training for Image-Based Pathogen Detection', mSphere, vol. 5, no. 5. https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00836-20

Mercer, J, Lee, JE, Saphire, EO & Freeman, SA 2020, 'SnapShot: Enveloped Virus Entry', Cell, vol. 182, no. 3, pp. 786-786.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.033

Yoshida, N, Domart, M-C, Peddie, CJ, Yakimovich, A, Mazon-Moya, MJ, Hawkins, TA, Collinson, L, Mercer, J, Frickel, E-M & Mostowy, S 2020, 'The zebrafish as a novel model for the in vivo study of Toxoplasma gondii replication and interaction with macrophages', Disease Models & Mechanisms, vol. 13, no. 7. https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.043091

Fisch, D, Yakimovich, A, Clough, B, Wright, J, Bunyan, M, Howell, M, Mercer, J & Frickel, E 2019, 'Defining host–pathogen interactions employing an artificial intelligence workflow', eLife, vol. 8, e40560. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.40560

Pereira, PM, Albrecht, D, Culley, S, Jacobs, C, Marsh, M, Mercer, J & Henriques, R 2019, 'Fix your membrane receptor imaging: Actin cytoskeleton and CD4 membrane organization disruption by chemical fixation', Frontiers in immunology, vol. 10, no. APR, 675. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2019.00675

Chapter

Fisch, D, Yakimovich, A, Clough, B, Mercer, J & Frickel, EM 2019, Image-Based Quantitation of Host Cell–Toxoplasma gondii Interplay Using HRMAn: A Host Response to Microbe Analysis Pipeline. in CJ Tonkin (ed.), Methods in Molecular Biology. vol. 2071, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2071, Humana Press, pp. 411-433. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9857-9_21

Other contribution

Yakimovich, A & Mercer, J 2019, High-Content Analyses of Vaccinia Plaque Formation.. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9593-6_15

Preprint

Krause, M, Yakimovich, A, Kriston-Vizi, J, Huttunen, M & Mercer, J 2021 'Vaccinia virus subverts xenophagy through phosphorylation and nuclear targeting of p62' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.15.439938

Giotis, ES, Laidlaw, SM, Bidgood, SR, Albrecht, D, Burden, JJ, Robey, RC, Mercer, J & Skinner, MA 2020 'Modulation of early host innate immune response by a Fowlpox virus (FWPV) lateral body protein' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.02.324418

Bidgood, SR, Novy, K, Collopy, A, Albrecht, D, Krause, M, Burden, JJ, Wollscheid, B & Mercer, J 2020 'Poxviruses package viral redox proteins in lateral bodies and modulate the host oxidative response' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.09.418319

Working paper

Yoshida, N, Domart, M-C, Yakimovich, A, Mazon-Moya, MJ, Collinson, L, Mercer, J, Frickel, E-M & Mostowy, S 2019 'In vivo control of Toxoplasma gondii by zebrafish macrophages' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/828624

View all publications in research portal