U.S. flag An official website of the United States government

On Oct. 1, 2024, the FDA began implementing a reorganization impacting many parts of the agency. We are in the process of updating FDA.gov content to reflect these changes.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  1. Home
  2. About FDA
  3. FDA Organization
  4. Office of the Commissioner
  5. Office of the Chief Scientist
  6. National Center for Toxicological Research
  7. Science & Research (NCTR)
  8. E. Jones
  1. Science & Research (NCTR)

E. Ellen Jones Ph.D.

Research Biologist, Omics, Models, Imaging, and Chemistry Branch — Division of Systems Biology

Dr. Ellen Jones, Research Biologist, NCTR Division of Systems Biology

E. Ellen Jones, Ph.D.
(870) 543-7121
NCTRResearch@fda.hhs.gov

Back to NCTR Principal Investigators page

About  |  Publications  |  Lab Members

Background

Dr. E. Ellen Jones graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Baylor University, Waco, TX, and a Ph.D. in microbiology, immunology, and virology from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. She was then hired as a postdoctoral fellow at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, where she worked on the advancement of vaccines and therapies specifically for hemorrhagic fevers within a maximum containment biosafety level 4 laboratory. Following this work, Dr. Jones took a postdoctoral position at the University of Texas Health Science Center, where she worked on expanding the use of proteomic technologies to better understand protein interactions involved in cell signaling and cancer.

In 2011, Dr. Jones’s research interests shifted into metabolomics and imaging mass spectrometry (IMS), and she accepted a staff fellow position within the proteomics center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. Here, she focused primarily on the utilization of high-resolution mass spectrometry-imaging in a variety of workflows targeting lipids, peptides, glycans, and small-molecule metabolites to better characterize complex tissue microenvironments in disease. In 2015, Dr. Jones took a scientist position in the Drug Metabolism and Pharmacodynamics group at Genentech in South San Francisco, CA. At Genentech, Dr. Jones furthered her expertise in the field of MALDI IMS with a focus on drug and metabolite workflows. In 2016, Dr. Jones was competitively recruited into a staff fellow position at FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) within the Division of Systems Biology to aid in establishing the MALDI IMS platform FDA-wide. She is currently a research biologist and works across the centers to expand this approach to address regulatory questions.
 

Research Interests

The implementation of cutting-edge technologies such as high-resolution MALDI imaging within FDA is critical as it is being used by pharmaceutical companies in preclinical and clinical studies to identify biomarkers of drug efficacy and toxicity. Data of this nature is increasingly being used to support new drug applications; thus, it is important to understand the technology and its utility. MALDI IMS studies are performed using a state-of-the-art high-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (scimaX MRMS 7T FTICR MS) capable of the mass accuracy and resolution required for small-molecule imaging. The MALDI IMS team at NCTR is one of only a handful of groups across the country which possess both the instrumentation and experience needed to conduct this research. The imaging platform can be used to evaluate the spatial distribution of drugs, drug metabolites, small molecules, endogenous metabolites, lipids, neurotransmitters, and glycans in tissue, whole-body sections, or cell culture. An advantage of this platform over traditional metabolomics studies is that the spatial distribution is retained and specific analytes of interest can be correlated with areas of tissue damage or specific areas of interest in organs like the brain. Additionally, the approach is amenable to downstream immunohistochemistry and staining protocols of interest. Although most studies are qualitative, new quantitative approaches are also being developed. Another key area of interest of the MALDI IMS group is correlating the mass spectrometry images with other existing imaging modalities to comprehensively map a sample of interest. 
 

Professional Societies/National and International Groups

Imaging Mass Spectrometry Society
Pharmacology Working Group
2020 – Present

Member
2015 – Present
 

Selected Publications

The Incorporation of MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging in Studies to Identify Markers of Toxicity Following in utero Opioid Exposures in Mouse Fetuses. 
Barnette D., Inselman A.L., Kaldhone P., Lee G.S., Davis K., Sarkar S., Malhi P., Fisher J.E., Hanig J.P., Beger R.D., and Jones E.E. 
Front Toxicol. 2024, 6:1452974. doi: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1452974. PMID: 39691158; PMCID: PMC11651024.

MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry: An Emerging Tool in Neurology.
Schnackenberg L.K., Thorn D.A., Barnette D., and Jones E.E.
Metab Brain Dis. 2022, 37(1):105-121. doi: 10.1007/s11011-021-00797-2. Epub 2021 Aug 4. 

MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging of N-linked Glycans in Cancer Tissues.
Drake R.R., Powers T.W., Jones E.E., Bruner E., Mehta A.S., and Angel P.M.
Adv Cancer Res. 2017, 134:85-116. doi: 10.1016/bs.acr.2016.11.009. Epub 2016 Dec 20.

Tissue Localization of Glycosphingolipid Accumulation in a Gaucher Disease Mouse Brain by LC-ESI-MS/MS and High Resolution MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry.
Jones E.E., Zhang W., Zhao X., Quiason C., Dale S., Shahidi-Latham S., Grabowski G.A., Setchell K.D.R., Drake R.R., and Sun Y.
SLAS Discovery. 2017, 2472555217719372. PMID: 28401432.

Feasibility Assessment of a MALDI FTICR Imaging Approach for the 3D Reconstruction of a Mouse Lung.
Jones E.E., Quaison C., Dale S., and Shahidi-Latham S.K.
J Am Soc Mass Spectrom. 2017, 28(8):1709-1715. doi: 10.1007/s13361-017-1658-3. Epub 2017 Apr 11. PMID: 28401432.

Proteomic Profiling of Serial Pre-Diagnostic Serum Samples for Early Detection of Colon Cancer in the U.S. Military.
Shao S., Neely B.A., Kao T.C., Eckhaus J., Brooks J., and Jones E.E.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2016, PMCID: PMC5413427. DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-16-0732.

Detection and Distribution of Sphingolipids in Tissue by FTICR MALDI IMS.
Jones E.E., Dworski S., Kamani M., Liu X., Hannun Y., Norris J., Medin J.A., and Drake R.R.
Springer: Bioactive Sphingolipids in Cancer Biology and Therapy. 2015, pg. 339-358.

Tissue Biomarkers of Drug Efficacy: Case Studies Using a MALDI MSI Workflow.
Jones E.E., Gao P., Smith C.D., Norris J.S., and Drake R.R.
Bioanalysis. 2015, 7(20)2611-9. PMID: 26505686.

On-Tissue Localization of Ceramides and Other Sphingolipids by MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging.
Jones E.E., Dworski S., Canals D., Casas J., Fabrias G., Schoenling D., Levade T., Denlinger C., Hannun Y.A., Medin J.A., and Drake R.R.
Anal Chem. 2014, 86(16):8303-11. PMCID: PMC4139181.

In-Depth Proteomic Analyses of Exosomes Isolated from Expressed Prostatic Secretions in Urine.
Principe S., Jones E.E., Kim Y., Sinha A., Nyalwidhe J.O., Brooks J., Semmes O.J., Troyer D.A., Lance R.S., Kislinger T., and Drake R.R.
Proteomics. 2013, 13(10-11):1667-1671. doi: 10.1002/pmic.201200561. Epub 2013 Apr 23.

Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Imaging Mass Spectrometry Workflow for Spatial Profiling Analysis of N-Linked Glycan Expression in Tissues.
Powers T.W., Jones E.E., Betesh L.R., Romano P.R., Gao P., Copland J.A., Mehta A.S., and Drake R.R.
Anal Chem. 2013, 85(20):9799-806. doi: 10.1021/ac402108x. Epub 2013 Oct 3.

Lectin Capture Strategies Combined with Mass Spectrometry for the Discovery of Serum Glycoprotein Biomarkers.
Drake R.R., Schwegler E.E., Malik G., Diaz J., Block T., Mehta A., and Semmes O.J.
Mol Cell Proteomics. 2006, 5(10):1957-67. Epub 2006 Jun 7. Review. PMID: 16760258 https://doi.org/10.1074/mcp.M600176-MCP200.

SELDI-TOF MS Profiling of Serum for Detection of the Progression of Chronic Hepatitis C to Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
Schwegler E.E., Cazares L., Steel L.F., Adam B.L., Johnson D.A., Semmes O.J., Block T.M., Marrero J.A., and Drake R.R.
Hepatology. 2005, 41(3):634-42. PMID: 15726646.
 

Lab Members

Contact information for all lab members:
(870) 543-7121
NCTRResearch@fda.hhs.gov   

Dustyn Barnette, Ph.D.
Staff Fellow

Abraham Ittycheri, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Contact Information
E. Ellen Jones
(870) 543-7121
Expertise
Expertise
Approach
Domain
Technology & Discipline
Toxicology
Back to Top