Jonathan Kerr

Jonathan Ricardo Kerr, BSc, MBBCh, MD, PhD, FRCPath, is a British researcher who became interested in ME/CFS after studying the consequences of parovirus B19 infection and finding that some of those infected went on to develop CFS. Formerly of St. George’s University of London, he is presently working as an Associate professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.

Notable studies

 * 2016, Prevalencia de síntomas de fatiga crónica / encefalomielitis miálgica (SFC/EM) y su relación con factores ocupacionales en trabajadores en una empresa de vigilancia en Bogotá, Colombia (Jonathan Kerr) Note: This study did not use PEM as a inclusionary symptom nor did it use any Definitions of ME and CFS including the most symptom liberal of valid definitions, SEID. The only entry criteria noted were fatigue and muscle pain which seem to be the broadest and loose of symptom definitions Reeves criteria and Oxford criteria.
 * 2016, MicroRNAs hsa-miR-99b, hsa-miR-330, hsa-miR-126 and hsa-miR-30c: Potential Diagnostic Biomarkers in Natural Killer (NK) Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)/ Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)
 * 2014, Use of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to distinguish gene expression subtypes of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) "Abstract - 'Aims: We have reported gene expression changes in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) and the fact that such gene expression data can be used to identify subtypes of CFS/ME with distinct clinical phenotypes. Due to the difficulties in using a comparative gene expression method as an aid to CFS/ME disease and subtype-specific diagnosis, we have attempted to develop such a method based on single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis. Methods: To identify SNP allele associations with CFS/ME and CFS/ME subtypes, we tested genomic DNA of patients with CFS/ME (n=108), patients with endogenous depression (n=17) and normal blood donors (n=68) for 504 human SNP alleles located within 88 CFS-associated human genes using the SNP Genotyping GoldenGate Assay (Illumina, San Diego, California, USA). 360 ancestry informative markers (AIM) were also examined. Results: 21 SNPs were significantly associated with CFS/ME compared with depression and normal groups. 148 SNP alleles had a significant association with one or more CFS/ME subtypes. For each subtype, associated SNPs tended to be grouped together within particular genes. AIM SNPs indicated that 4 subjects were of Asian origin while the remainder were Caucasian. Hierarchical clustering of AIM data revealed the relatedness between 2 couples of patients with CFS only and confirmed the overall heterogeneity of all subjects. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that human SNPs located within CFS/ME associated genes are associated with particular genomic subtypes of CFS/ME. Further work is required to develop this into a clinically useful subtype-specific diagnostic test.'"
 * 1997, Parvovirus B19 and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Talks & interviews

 * 2015, [[Spoonie Radio] episode 14 - Jonathan Kerr]
 * 2014, Dr. Kerr, I presume?

Invest in ME International ME Conference

 * 2010, Speaker at the 5th [[Invest in ME International ME Conference] on Study of SNPs to determine subtype status in CFS patients] DVD available
 * 2009, Speaker at the 4th [[Invest in ME International ME Conference] on Severely-affected Sub Groups of ME/CFS] DVD available
 * 2008, Speaker at the 3rd [[Invest in ME International ME Conference] on Gene Expression in ME/CFS: a means of Subtyping] DVD available
 * 2007, at the 2nd [[Invest in ME International ME Conference] on Case Study - Biomedical research (A view of a biomedical research team, how it is funded, what it needs, how it could be improved, what the future research would look like)] DVD available
 * 2006, Speaker at the 1st [[Invest in ME International ME Conference] on Viral and Human Gene Expression, development of diagnostic test, news of clinical trials] DVD available

Online presence

 * Invest in ME - Jonathan Kerr
 * PubMed - Jonathan Kerr

Learn more

 * Jonathan Kerr