Professor Jo Parish BSc, PhD

• PhD in Biochemistry, University of Bristol, 2002
• BSc in Biochemistry, University of Bristol, 1998

Professor Jo Parish completed her PhD at the University of Bristol in 2002, during which she elucidated the mechanism of the induction of apoptosis by the HPV E2 protein under the supervision of Prof. Kevin Gaston. Following her PhD studies, she moved to the University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA to work with Prof. Elliot Androphy. During this time, Jo continued her study of the papillomavirus E2 protein and discovered several novel virus-host interactions including an interaction with the cellular DNA helicase ChlR1. Her work elegantly demonstrated that ChlR1 is required for the maintenance and persistence of papillomavirus by tethering viral genomes to cellular chromatin during mitosis and was published in Molecular Cell.

In 2007, Jo was awarded a highly competitive Royal Society University Research Fellowship and returned to the UK to establish her independent research group at the University of St Andrews. Jo was recruited to the University of Birmingham, UK in 2012 and is Group Leader of the HPV Persistence Group and promoted to Professor of Tumour Virology in 2021. Jo’s research is currently focused on the molecular biology of transcriptional control and persistence of HPV and other small DNA viruses. Her recent research has identified an essential role for the host transcription factors CTCF and YY1 in the control of differentiation-dependent virus gene expression and her research has unravelling the mechanism of HPV transcription control through epigenetic regulation. Using primary-cell based tissue models and state-of-the-art sequencing technologies, Jo is understanding novel mechanisms of HPV-driven host transcription control and reprogramming and how these events contribute to cancer development.

Jo is a passionate mentor of early career researchers and continues to promote virology on a national and international stage.

• Professor and Tutor for BMedSci
• MBChB Tutor: ‘Cancer: Causes to Cures’

Professor Jo Parish has supervised more than 20 postgraduate students in areas of virology and cancer biology. Many of these students now hold posts at prestigious national and international research institutes.

Jo is interested in supervising doctoral research students in the following areas:

• Regulation of HPV gene expression control and host cell transcription
• Regulation of HPV replication and persistence

If you are interested in studying any of these subject areas please contact Jo directly, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mds-gradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Research Theme

Professor Parish’s research programme aims to understand the mechanistic underpinnings of virus gene expression control, replication and persistence using physiological models of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections.

Current projects:

Virus-host interactions important for the control of HPV gene expression and HPV-induced carcinogenesis

Using primary keratinocyte-based models of HPV infections, we are characterizing novel host factors that are important for virus oncogene expression and differentiation-dependent regulation of HPV gene expression. Our collaborative work with Dr Sally Roberts has highlighted an important interaction between HPV and the host cell transcriptional regulator CTCF in the control of virus oncogene expression and we are currently analysing this interplay in HPV-induced disease progression. Work is supported by the Medical Research Council.

Viral manipulation of host cell gene expression

Using state-of-the-art technologies such as RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq and ATAC-Seq we are discovering how HPV manipulates transcriptional control of host cell genes to support virus life cycle. These studies are increasing our understanding of how HPV infection contributes to cancer development and will inform the design of novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Work is supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Birmingham and the Medical Research Council.

Member of the Birmingham Centre for Genome Biology   

• Senior Editor of mSphere, American Society for Microbiology (2025 - present)
• Associate Editor, Royal Society Open Science (2021-present)
• Editor of Journal of General Virology (2018-2025)
• Editorial Board Member of Viruses (2014-present)
• Chair Elect of Microbiology Society Virus Division (2019-2023)
• Elected member of the Microbiology Society Virus Division Committee (2015-2018)
• Lecturer in Medical Science, University of St Andrews (2007-2012)
• Member of the American Society for Microbiology
• Member of the Heinrich-Pette Institute for Medical Virology, Hamburg Scientific Advisory Board