Dr. Steven Jones, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Medicine Tel.: (502) 852-2460 E-mail: Steven.P.Jones Ph.D.: 1998-2002, Cardiovascular Physiology, LSU (Lefer) Fellowship: 2002-2004, Mitochondrial Biology, JHU (Marban) Assistant Professor: 2004-2009, UofL Associate Professor: 2009-present, UofL Please Visit my Research Lab at: http://louisville.edu/research/joneslab/

News February 2012: Dr. Jones was elected as a member of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. December 2011: Dr. Lewis 'Josh' Watson, M.S., Ph.D., received the University of Louisville School of Medicine's Award for Outstanding Graduate Student during his hooding ceremony on December 16. Dr. Watson successfully defended his thesis on November 9th. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Howard Rockman's laboratory at Duke University. April 2011: Dr. Jones was named 'Fellow' of the Cardiovascular Section of the American Physiological Society during the 2011 Experimental Biology conference.

Goal:

To understand why myocytes die during acute myocardial infarction and heart failure and to develop strategies to prevent cell death.

Research Interests:

• Understanding the mechanisms of cardiac muscle damage during a heart attack and developing novel therapeutics to preserve the heart.
• Elucidating the molecular regulation of cardiac hypertrophy and the transition to heart failure.
• Investigating the confounding influence of risk factors (such as diabetes) on the development of heart disease.

In all such endeavors, the laboratory group invokes a multidisciplinary approach to answer important questions in a variety of in vivo and in vitro models. My laboratory is also dedicated to providing a fertile environment for students and fellows to gain the necessary experience and guidance to become independent investigators.

Selected Publications

• Zafir A, Readnower R, Long BW, McCracken J, Aird A, Alvarez A, Cummins TD, Li Q, Hill BG, Bhatnagar A, Prabhu SD, Bolli R, Jones SP. Protein O-GlcNAcylation Is a Novel Cytoprotective Signal in Cardiac Stem Cells. Stem Cells. 2012 Apr;31(4):765-75. doi: 10.1002/stem.1325.
• Li MD, Ruan HB, Hughes ME, Lee JS, Singh JP, Jones SP, Nitabach MN, Yang X. O-GlcNAc signaling entrains the circadian clock by inhibiting BMAL1/CLOCK ubiquitination. Cell Metab. 2013 Feb 5;17(2):303-10. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2012.12.015.
• Wang J, Xu J, Wang Q, Brainard RE, Watson LJ, Jones SP, Epstein PN. Reduced cardiac fructose 2,6 bisphosphate increases hypertrophy and decreases glycolysis following aortic constriction. PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e53951. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053951. Epub 2013 Jan 7.
• Readnower RD, Brainard RE, Hill BG, Jones SP. Standardized bioenergetic profiling of adult mouse cardiomyocytes. Physiol Genomics. 2012 Dec 18;44(24):1208-13. doi: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00129.2012. Epub 2012 Oct 23.
• Facundo HT, Brainard RE, Watson LJ, Ngoh GA, Hamid T, Prabhu SD, Jones SP. O-GlcNAc signaling is essential for NFAT-mediated transcriptional reprogramming during cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2012 May 15;302(10):H2122-30. Epub 2012 Mar 9.
• Wang J, Wang Q, Watson LJ, Jones SP, Epstein PN. Cardiac overexpression of 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 protects mitochondrial DNA and reduces cardiac fibrosis following transaortic constriction. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2011 Nov;301(5):H2073-80. Epub 2011 Aug 26.
• Ngoh GA, Watson LJ, Facundo HT, Jones SP. Augmented O-GlcNAc signaling attenuates oxidative stress and calcium overload in cardiomyocytes. Amino Acids. 2011 Mar;40(3):895-911. Epub 2010 Aug 27.
• Watson LJ, Facundo HT, Ngoh GA, Ameen M, Brainard RE, Lemma KM, Long BW, Prabhu SD, Xuan YT, Jones SP. O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine transferase is indispensable in the failing heart. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Oct 12;107(41):17797-802. Epub 2010 Sep 27.
• Ngoh GA, Facundo HT, Zafir A, Jones SP. O-GlcNAc signaling in the cardiovascular system. Circ Res. 2010 Jul 23;107(2):171-85.
• Sansbury BE, Riggs DW, Brainard RE, Salabei JK, Jones SP, Hill BG. Responses of hypertrophied myocytes to reactive species: implications for glycolysis and electrophile metabolism. Biochem J. 2011 Apr 15;435(2):519-28.
• Sansbury BE, Jones SP, Riggs DW, Darley-Usmar VM, Hill BG. Bioenergetic function in cardiovascular cells: the importance of the reserve capacity and its biological regulation. Chem Biol Interact. 2011 May 30;191(1-3):288-95. Epub 2010 Dec 11.
• Ngoh GA, Hamid T, Prabhu SD, Jones SP. O-GlcNAc signaling attenuates ER stress-induced cardiomyocyte death. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2009 Nov;297(5):H1711-9. Epub 2009 Sep 4.
• Facundo HT, Jones SP. AMP-dependent protein kinase activators: not just for diabetes? Circ Res. 2009 Feb 13;104(3):282-4. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.108.192658.
• Ngoh GA, Facundo HT, Hamid T, Dillmann W, Zachara NE, Jones SP. Unique hexosaminidase reduces metabolic survival signal and sensitizes cardiac myocytes to hypoxia/reoxygenation injury. Circ Res. 2009 Jan 2;104(1):41-9. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.108.189431. Epub 2008 Nov 20.
• Ngoh GA, Jones SP. New insights into metabolic signaling and cell survival: the role of beta-O-linkage of N-acetylglucosamine. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2008 Dec;327(3):602-9. doi: 10.1124/jpet.108.143263. Epub 2008 Sep 3.
• Ngoh GA, Watson LJ, Facundo HT, Dillmann W, Jones SP. Non-canonical glycosyltransferase modulates post-hypoxic cardiac myocyte death and mitochondrial permeability transition. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2008 Aug;45(2):313-25. doi: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2008.04.009. Epub 2008 May 2.
• Jones SP, Zachara NE, Ngoh GA, Hill BG, Teshima Y, Bhatnagar A, Hart GW, Marbán E. Cardioprotection by N-acetylglucosamine linkage to cellular proteins. Circulation. 2008 Mar 4;117(9):1172-82. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.730515. Epub 2008 Feb 19.