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Jones Lab

Lab personnel

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Research interests

My principal research interest is in how calcium cycling is controlled in cardiac myocytes. In particular, my focus is on the mechanisms by which calcium release from intra-cellular stores (sarcoplasmic reticulum, SR) is controlled by the cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2). The aim of my research is to characterize how the activity of RyR2 is altered both physiologically and in disease. This is achieved using a broad spectrum of assays from molecular biology and single channel recordings, through to isolated cardiac myocytes and ultimately whole animal models.

Keywords

Arrhythmia, RyR2, calcium, sarcoplasmic reticulum, RyR1, malignant hyperthermia

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Current funding

  • 2016–2019 Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund
  • 2015–2017 Heart Foundation of New Zealand
  • 2015 Lottery Health Equipment Grant
  • 2014–2015 University of Otago Research Grant

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Previous funding

  • 2013 Healthcare Otago Trust
  • 2013 Heart Foundation of New Zealand
  • 2012–2013 Otago Medical Research Foundation, Laurenson Award
  • 2011–2014 Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund
  • 2011–2012 Lottery Health Research

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Collaborators

  • Badrilla Ltd (characterisation of phosphor-specific cardiac antibodies)

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Publications

Aitken-Buck, H. M., Krause, J., van Hout, I., Davis, P. J., Bunton, R. W., Parry, D. J., Williams, M. J. A., Coffey, S., … Jones, P. P., & Lamberts, R. R. (2021). Long-chain acylcarnitine 18:1 acutely increases human atrial myocardial contractility and arrhythmia susceptibility. American Journal of Physiology: Heart & Circulatory Physiology, 321, H162-H174. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00184.2021

Aitken-Buck, H. M., van Hout, I., Krause, J., Davis, P. J., Bunton, R. W., Parry, D. J., Williams, M. J. A., Coffey, S., … Jones, P. P., & Lamberts, R. R. (2021). Arrhythmogenic and inotropic effects of long-chain acylcarnitines in the human heart. New Zealand Medical Journal, 134(1537), (pp. 111-112). Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal

Ng, Y. H., Okolo, C. A., Erickson, J. R., Baldi, J. C., & Jones, P. P. (2021). Protein O-GlcNAcylation in the heart. Acta Physiologica. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/apha.13696

Zhong, X., Guo, W., Wei, J., Tang, Y., Liu, Y., Zhang, J. Z., … Jones, P. P., … Wayne Chen, S. R. (2021). Identification of loss-of-function RyR2 mutations associated with idiopathic ventricular fibrillation and sudden death. Bioscience Reports. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1042/bsr20210209

Munro, M. L., van Hout, I., Aitken-Buck, H., Sugunesegran, R., Bhagwat, K., Davis, P. J., Lamberts, R. R., Coffey, S., … Jones, P. P. (2021). Human atrial fibrillation is not associated with remodeling of ryanodine receptor clusters. Frontiers in Cell & Developmental Biology, 9, 633704. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.633704

Frisk, M., Le, C., Shen, X., Røe, Å., Hou, Y., Manfra, O., … van Hout, I., … Lamberts, R. R., … Coffey, S., … Jones, P. P., … Louch, W. E. (2021). Etiology-dependent impairment of diastolic cardiomyocyte calcium homeostasis in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. JACC, 77(4), 405-419. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2020.11.044

Aitken-Buck, H. M., Krause, J., Zeller, T., Jones, P. P., & Lamberts, R. R. (2020). Long-chain acylcarnitines and cardiac excitation-contraction coupling: Links to arrhythmias. Frontiers in Physiology, 11, 577856. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2020.577856

Moharram, M., van Hout, I., Jones, P., Lamberts, R., Whalley, G., Williams, M., & Coffey, S. (2020). Speckle tracking strain analysis for the detection of changes in left ventricular function in patients with hypertension. Heart, Lung & Circulation, 29(Suppl. 1), (pp. S18). doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2020.05.048

Aitken-Buck, H. M., Babakr, A. A., Fomison-Nurse, I. C., van Hout, I., Davis, P. J., Bunton, R. W., Williams, M. J. A., Coffey, S., Jones, P. P., & Lamberts, R. R. (2020). Inotropic and lusitropic, but not arrhythmogenic, effects of adipocytokine resistin on human atrial myocardium. American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology & Metabolism, 319, E540-E547. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00202.2020

Moharram, M. A., Aitken-Buck, H. M., Reijers, R., van Hout, I., Williams, M. J. A., Jones, P. P., Whalley, G. A., Lamberts, R. R., & Coffey, S. (2020). Correlation between epicardial adipose tissue and body mass index in New Zealand ethnic populations. New Zealand Medical Journal, 133(1516), 22-32. Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal

McNeill, S., Giles, N. M., Preston, D., Jones, P. P., Crowley, J. D., & Giles, G. I. (2020). The quadruply stranded metallo-supramolecular helicate [Pd2 (hextrz)4]4+ acts as a molecular mimic of cytolytic peptides. Chemical Research in Toxicology, 33, 1822-1834. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.0c00061

Frisk, M., Le, C., Hou, Y., Røe, Å., Dahl, C., Shen, X., … Jones, P., & Louch, W. (2020). T-tubule disruption is a prominent feature of HFrEF but not HFpEF. Journal of Molecular & Cellular Cardiology, 140, Suppl., (pp. 26). doi: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2019.11.060

Gonano, L. A., Chakraborty, A. D., Aitken-Buck, H., Vila Petroff, M., & Jones, P. P. (2020). Phosphorylation of cardiac ryanodine receptors by protein kinase G: Evaluation of its impact on store overload-induced calcium release. Journal of Molecular & Cellular Cardiology, 140, Suppl., (pp. 49). doi: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2019.11.117

Loehfelm, A., Elder, M. K., Boucsein, A., Jones, P. P., Williams, J. M., & Tups, A. (2020). Docosahexaenoic acid prevents palmitate-induced insulin-dependent impairments of neuronal health. FASEB Journal, 34, 4635-4652. doi: 10.1096/fj.201902517R

Hou, Y., Laasmaa, M., Li, J., Manfra, O., Shen, X., Jones, P. P., … Louch, W. E. (2020). Correlating calcium sparks and ryanodine receptor localization in live cardiomyocytes. Biophysical Journal, 118(3, Suppl. 1), (pp. 567a). doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2019.11.3088

Munro, M. L., & Jones, P. P. (2020). Too much of a good thing? Establishing a role of excessive RyR2 dephosphorylation in heart disease. Journal of Physiology, 598(6), 1115-1116. doi: 10.1113/jp279569

Babakr, A. A., Fomison-Nurse, I. C., van Hout, I., Aitken-Buck, H. M., Sugunesegran, R., Davis, P. J., Bunton, R. W., Williams, M. J. A., Coffey, S., Stiles, M. K., Jones, P. P., & Lamberts, R. R. (2020). Acute interaction between human epicardial adipose tissue and human atrial myocardium induce arrhythmic susceptibility. American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology & Metabolism, 318, E164-E172. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00374.2019

Munro, M. L., van Hout, I., Sugunesegran, R., Bhagwat, K., Davis, P. J., Bunton, R. W., Coffey, S., … Jones, P. P. (2019, September). Resolving the role of dyadic organisation in cardiac dysfunction. Verbal presentation at the Medical Sciences Congress (MedSci), Queenstown, New Zealand.

Aitken-Buck, H. M., van Hout, I., Davis, P. J., Coffey, S., Krause, J., Zeller, T., Jones, P. P., & Lamberts, R. R. (2019, September). Long-chain acylcarnitines as acute modulators of human atrial muscle function. Verbal presentation at the Medical Sciences Congress (MedSci), Queenstown, New Zealand.

Hinton, L., Jones, P., & Munro, M. (2019, September). Role protein kinase CK2 in regulation of the cardiac Ryanodine Receptor. Poster session presented at the Medical Sciences Congress (MedSci), Queenstown, New Zealand.

Aitken-Buck, H. M., Moharram, M., Babakr, A. A., Reijers, R., Van Hout, I., Fomison-Nurse, I. C., Sugunesegran, R., … Bunton, R. W., Williams, M. J. A., … Jones, P. P., Coffey, S., & Lamberts, R. R. (2019). Relationship between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and epicardial adipocyte size with increasing body mass index. Adipocyte, 8(1), 412-420. doi: 10.1080/21623945.2019.1701387

Aitken-Buck, H. M., Babakr, A. A., Coffey, S., Jones, P. P., Tse, R. D., & Lamberts, R. R. (2019). Epicardial adipocyte size does not correlate with body mass index. Cardiovascular Pathology, 43, 107144. doi: 10.1016/j.carpath.2019.07.003

Aitken-Buck, H. M., Moharram, M., Babakr, A., van Hout, I., Fomison-Nurse, I., Reijers, R., … Williams, M., Jones, P., Coffey, S., & Lamberts, R. (2019). Increasing general adiposity is not associated with hypertrophy of epicardial adipocytes in cardiac surgery patients. Heart, Lung & Circulation, 28(Suppl. 4), (pp. S177). doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2019.06.101

Moharram, M., Aitken-Buck, H., Van Hout, I., Reijers, R., Williams, M., Whalley, G., Jones, P., Lamberts, R., & Coffey, S. (2019). Impact of ethnicity on the correlation between body mass index and epicardial adipose tissue. Heart, Lung & Circulation, 28(Suppl. 4), (pp. S251). doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2019.06.276

Parveen, S., Lamberts, R., & Jones, P. (2019). Clock changes in the type 2 diabetic sinoatrial node. Heart, Lung & Circulation, 28(Suppl. 4), (pp. S206). doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2019.06.169

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