Professor Lisa Jones

Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Chemistry and Biochemistry, Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Dr. Jones received her PhD from the Department of Chemistry at Georgia State University. She received postdoctoral training in structural virology at the University of Alabama- Birmingham and in mass spectrometry (MS)-based protein footprinting at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research interests include the use of the protein footprinting method fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP) coupled with mass spectrometry for the characterization of the higher order structure of proteins. Her lab has further developed the FPOP method for in-cell (IC-FPOP) studies for proteome-wide structural biology. Biological applications of IC-FPOP include characterizing protein folding intermediates directly in the cell and drug target (both on and off targets) determination. The Jones lab has also extended the method for in vivo analysis (IV-FPOP) in C. elegans. This provides the ability to study protein structure in an animal model for human disease. Professor Jones is part of a campus-wide multidisciplinary STEM cluster hire of faculty whose research, teaching, and service are focused on racial/ethnic disparities in biological and physical sciences, health, medicine, or the environment. She plans to develop a course that will center on health disparities in biomedical research. The course will highlight the research that has been conducted, in particular during the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as provide a historical perspective on the past biomedical research within Black communities that were detrimental to the population. In addition to teaching in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Professor Jones will teach in the Black Diaspora and African American Studies program.