Research

The Jones Laboratory studies how metabolic signals and extracellular matrix–derived cues regulate inflammation, ventricular remodeling, and functional adaptation of the heart in cardiometabolic disease. Our research is organized around four integrated pillars that define the laboratory’s scientific identity and guide discovery across models and disease contexts.

Pillar 1: Metabolic Control of Cardiac Remodeling

Cardiometabolic disease profoundly alters how the heart senses and responds to stress. Our work defines how nutrient availability, redox state, and metabolic signaling pathways shape cardiomyocyte survival, growth, and contractile performance during pressure overload, ischemia–reperfusion injury, and metabolic dysfunction.

We focus on identifying metabolic checkpoints that determine whether stress responses are adaptive or maladaptive, with the goal of uncovering mechanisms that can be targeted to preserve function and limit progression to heart failure.

Pillar 2: Extracellular Matrix–Immune Crosstalk

The extracellular matrix is not a passive scaffold, but an active signaling platform that governs inflammation and tissue remodeling. A central focus of the laboratory is defining how matrix components — including hyaluronan — regulate immune cell recruitment, activation, and resolution during cardiac injury and chronic disease.

Our studies examine how dynamic changes in matrix composition influence fibrotic remodeling, ventricular stiffness, and cross-talk between immune cells and resident cardiac cell populations. This work provides mechanistic insight into how inflammation and fibrosis are coupled in cardiometabolic heart disease.

Pillar 3: Integrative Cardiovascular Physiology

Physiological relevance is central to all work in the Jones Laboratory. We employ rigorous in vivo models and advanced physiological phenotyping to ensure that molecular and cellular discoveries translate to meaningful changes in cardiac structure and function.

Our approaches span whole-animal models, cardiac functional assessment, and tissue-level analyses that allow us to connect signaling pathways to outcomes such as contractile performance, remodeling, and exercise capacity. This integrative framework distinguishes causal mechanisms from associative signals.

Pillar 4: Rigorous, Reproducible Translational Science

The laboratory is committed to experimental rigor, reproducibility, and scalability. Through development and leadership of shared research cores and standardized methodologies, we emphasize study design principles that strengthen confidence in preclinical findings.

This pillar reflects our translational mindset: discoveries are pursued with an eye toward robustness, generalizability, and relevance to human disease. Our work frequently informs collaborative efforts with clinician-investigators and interdisciplinary teams focused on advancing cardiovascular therapeutics.

An Integrated Research Program

Although presented as distinct pillars, these areas are deeply interconnected. Metabolic signals shape extracellular matrix remodeling; matrix cues regulate immune and cardiomyocyte behavior; and physiological context determines whether these interactions are adaptive or pathological.

By integrating metabolism, matrix biology, inflammation, and physiology, the Jones Laboratory seeks to define unifying mechanisms that drive cardiometabolic heart disease and identify leverage points for durable therapeutic impact.

Our research program is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and other national funding organizations, and is embedded within a collaborative environment that values scientific clarity, mentorship, and leadership.