Jason Upton, PhD

Jason Upton, PhD

  • Associate Professor
  • Biological Sciences
    • (334) 844-1691
    jwu0003@auburn.edu
    Rouse 227
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    Education

    • BS Willamette University 1999

    • PhD Washington University in St. Louis 2006

    Professional Experience

    2006-2009 - NIH National Research Service Award (NRSA) Transfusion Medicine Training Fellowship (T32), Emory University School of Medicine

    2009-2011 - NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA  Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32), Emory Vaccine Center

    2012-2018 - Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin

    Innovation

    Herpesviruses are ubiquitous, opportunistic pathogens, characterized by the establishment of life-long infections in their natural hosts. As such, they have developed elegant strategies to infect, evade and persist in the face of host intrinsic, innate, and adaptive immunity. The long-term goal of our research is to identify, characterize, and interrogate the molecular mechanisms important for virus-host interactions. Much of our work focuses on the pathogenesis of betaherpeviruses, which includes the human pathogen Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV). HCMV is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised individuals and is the leading infectious cause of congenital birth defects in the United States. Owing to the strict species specificity of betaherpesviruses, we utilize Murine Cytomegalovirus (MCMV), a powerful model system for HCMV pathogenesis, in our studies of CMV-host interactions. Our interests lie in understanding host innate immune defenses and the mechanisms by which MCMV, and a growing number of other pathogens including reovirus, influenza, and vaccinia virus, thwart these defenses. Combining techniques from genetics, molecular and cell biology, virology, and immunology, we aim to develop a better understanding of these molecular mechanisms, which in turn will allow us to exploit them to improve detection and treatment of viral diseases.

    Recent Publications

    • vIRA Inhibition of Antiviral Necroptosis and RIPK3 Binding Are Separable Events. Ragan KB, Sridharan H, Stark AS, Ilami K, Fisher AD, Brahms ON, Kaiser WJ, Upton JW. Pathogens . 2026 Jan 10;15(1):79. doi: 10.3390/pathogens15010079.Â
    • Characterizing the interactions between murine cytomegalovirus M72 and the carbon catabolite repression 4-negative on TATA-less (CCR4-NOT) complex. Brahms ON, Gopal S, Xia AY, Upton JW. Virology. 2026 Mar;616:110791. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2026.110791.
    • RIPK1 is required for ZBP1-driven necroptosis in human cells. Amusan OT, Wang S, Yin C, Koehler HS, Li Y, Tenev T, Wilson R, Bellenie B, Zhang T, Wang J, Liu C, Seong K, Poorbaghi SL, Yates J, Shen Y, Upton JW, Meier P, Balachandran S, Guo H. PLoS Biol . 2025 Feb 21;23(2):e3002845. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002845.Â
    • Cooperative sensing of mitochondrial DNA by ZBP1 and cGAS promotes cardiotoxicity. Lei Y, VanPortfliet JJ, Chen YF, Bryant JD, Li Y, Fails D, Torres-Odio S, Ragan KB, Deng J, Mohan A, Wang B, Brahms ON, Yates SD, Spencer M, Tong CW, Bosenberg MW, West LC, Shadel GS, Shutt TE, Upton JW, Li P, West AP. Cell. 2023 Jul 6;186(14):3013-3032.e22. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.039.
    • Differential effects of CMV infection on the viability of cardiac cells. Yadav SK, Gawargi FI, Hasan MH, Tandon R, Upton JW, Mishra PK. Cell Death Discov . 2023 Apr 3;9(1):111. doi: 10.1038/s41420-023-01408-y.Â
    • Vaccinia virus E3 prevents sensing of Z-RNA to block ZBP1-dependent necroptosis. Koehler H, Cotsmire S, Zhang T, Balachandran S, Upton JW, Langland J, Kalman D, Jacobs BL, Mocarski ES. Cell Host Microbe. 2021 Aug 11;29(8):1266-1276.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.05.009.
    • Ubiquitylation of MLKL at lysine 219 positively regulates necroptosis-induced tissue injury and pathogen clearance. Garcia LR, Tenev T, Newman R, Haich RO, Liccardi G, John SW, Annibaldi A, Yu L, Pardo M, Young SN, Fitzgibbon C, Fernando W, Guppy N, Kim H, Liang LY, Lucet IS, Kueh A, Roxanis I, Gazinska P, Sims M, Smyth T, Ward G, Bertin J, Beal AM, Geddes B, Choudhary JS, Murphy JM, Aurelia Ball K, Upton JW, Meier P. Nat Commun . 2021 Jun 7;12(1):3364. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23474-5.Â
    • Necroptosis-based CRISPR knockout screen reveals Neuropilin-1 as a critical host factor for early stages of murine cytomegalovirus infection. Lane RK, Guo H, Fisher AD, Diep J, Lai Z, Chen Y, Upton JW, Carette J, Mocarski ES, Kaiser WJ. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Aug 18;117(33):20109-20116. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1921315117.
    • Influenza Virus Z-RNAs Induce ZBP1-Mediated Necroptosis. Zhang T, Yin C, Boyd DF, Quarato G, Ingram JP, Shubina M, Ragan KB, Ishizuka T, Crawford JC, Tummers B, Rodriguez DA, Xue J, Peri S, Kaiser WJ, López CB, Xu Y, Upton JW, Thomas PG, Green DR, Balachandran S. Cell . 2020 Mar 19;180(6):1115-1129.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.050.Â
    • Species-independent contribution of ZBP1/DAI/DLM-1-triggered necroptosis in host defense against HSV1. Guo H, Gilley RP, Fisher A, Lane R, Landsteiner VJ, Ragan KB, Dovey CM, Carette JE, Upton JW, Mocarski ES, Kaiser WJ. Cell Death Dis. 2018 Jul 26;9(8):816. doi: 10.1038/s41419-018-0868-3.
    • Murine cytomegalovirus M72 promotes acute virus replication in vivo and is a substrate of the TRiC/CCT complex. Gopal S, Perez E Jr, Xia AY, Knowlton JJ, Cerqueira F, Dermody TS, Upton JW. Virology . 2018 Sep;522:92-105. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2018.07.008.Â
    • Inhibition of DAI-dependent necroptosis by the Z-DNA binding domain of the vaccinia virus innate immune evasion protein, E3. Koehler H, Cotsmire S, Langland J, Kibler KV, Kalman D, Upton JW, Mocarski ES, Jacobs BL. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Oct 24;114(43):11506-11511. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1700999114.Â
      Murine cytomegalovirus IE3-dependent transcription is required for DAI/ZBP1-mediated necroptosis. Sridharan H, Ragan KB, Guo H, Gilley RP, Landsteiner VJ, Kaiser WJ, Upton JW. EMBO Rep. 2017 Aug;18(8):1429-1441. doi: 10.15252/embr.201743947. Epub 2017 Jun 12.