Byron C. Jones, Ph.D.

Education

• PhD, Psychology, University of Arizona
• Postdoctoral training 1975-76 - University of Arizona with Henry Yamamura
• Postdoctoral training, 1986-89 - Alcohol Research Center, University of Colorado with V. Gene Erwin
• Taught and conducted research at The Pennsylvania State University 1991 - 2014.

Research Interests

Genetics of adaptation to stress relative to consumption of alcohol and function of the HPA axis. My research group is interested in individual differences in response to chronic stressful events in terms of changes in alcohol consumption and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis function. Through the use of genetically defined animals, we can identify candidate genes and biochemical pathways that underlie these forms of adaptation.

Toxicogenetics of pesticides and neurotoxins. The primary interest here is in the genetic basis of individual differences in susceptibility to neurological damage (related to Parkinson's disease) produced by exposure to pesticides and herbicides. Our aim here is to model the pathophysiology related to Parkinson's disease in genetically defined mice and to relate what we find in mice to understanding why some individuals are more susceptible to pesticide-induced neurodegeneration than others.

Genetics of metal regulation in the brain. Iron, copper and zinc are necessary elements for the development and function of the brain. Too much or too little of these elements have deleterious effects on brain function and thus must be tightly regulated. Our aim is to discover the genes and gene networks that underlie individual differences in the regulation of these important metals.

Representative Publications

• Parks C, Giorgianni F, Jones BC, Beranova-Giorgianni S, Moore Ii BM, Mulligan MK. Comparison and Functional Genetic Analysis of Striatal Protein Expression Among Diverse Inbred Mouse Strains. Front Mol Neurosci. 2019 May 24;12:128. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2019.00128. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 31178692; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6543464.
• Terenina EE, Cavigelli S, Mormede P, Zhao W, Parks C, Lu L, Jones BC, Mulligan MK. Genetic Factors Mediate the Impact of Chronic Stress and Subsequent Response to Novel Acute Stress. Front Neurosci. 2019 May 21;13:438. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00438. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 31164799; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6536627.
• Mulligan MK, Lu L, Cavigelli SA, Mormède P, Terenina E, Zhao W, Williams RW, Jones BC. Impact of Genetic Variation on Stress-Related Ethanol Consumption. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2019 Jul;43(7):1391-1402. doi: 10.1111/acer.14073. Epub 2019 May 21. PubMed PMID: 31034606.
• Hook M, Xu F, Terenina E, Zhao W, Starlard-Davenport A, Mormede P, Jones BC, Mulligan MK, Lu L. Exploring the involvement of Tac2 in the mouse hippocampal stress response through gene networking. Gene. 2019 May 15;696:176-185. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2019.02.013. Epub 2019 Feb 12. PubMed PMID: 30769143; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6754182.
• Zhou D, Zhao Y, Hook M, Zhao W, Starlard-Davenport A, Cook MN, Jones BC, Hamre KM, Lu L. Ethanol's Effect on Coq7 Expression in the Hippocampus of Mice. Front Genet. 2018 Dec 4;9:602. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2018.00602. eCollection 2018. PubMed PMID: 30564271; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6288283.
• Mulligan MK, Zhao W, Dickerson M, Arends D, Prins P, Cavigelli SA, Terenina E, Mormede P, Lu L, Jones BC. Genetic Contribution to Initial and Progressive Alcohol Intake Among Recombinant Inbred Strains of Mice. Front Genet. 2018 Sep 25;9:370. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2018.00370. eCollection 2018. PubMed PMID: 30319684; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6167410.

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