Kim S. Jones

, PhD

Assistant Professor
Pathology and Molecular Medicine

Department of Chemical Engineering

McMaster University
372 John Hodgins Engineering Building
(905) 525-9140 Ext 26333
kjones@mcmaster.ca

Education and Professional Standing

• PhD Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, 2003
• MSc Biology, University of Guelph, 1998
• BASc Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, 1995

---

Interests

Interactions between tissue engineering and the host response

Tissue engineering is intended to repair, replace or regenerate diseased or damaged tissue. Typically, tissue-engineered constructs are composed of a biomaterial scaffold and functional cells. Such constructs are intended to supplement the supply of organs for transplant. Examples include vascular grafts, skin, artificial kidneys, livers and hearts. Our research uses prototype systems to focus on two fundamental issues.

Host Response to Tissue-Engineered Constructs

Just as transplantation of cadaveric organs results in damaging immune responses, so will transplantation of tissue-engineered organs. The presence of a biomaterial that generates inflammatory responses will affect this host response. Further understanding of how materials affect immune responses will guide appropriate material selection, not only for tissue engineering, but also for drug delivery and biomedical devices. We will optimise device function using local delivery (by genetically engineered cells or by release from the biomaterials) of molecules that suppress or tolerise the recipient immune system.

Effect of Host Response on Remodelling in Tissue Engineering

When a body receives an implant, it responds with scarring, inflammation, wound healing or regeneration. It is thus inevitable that tissue-engineered constructs will be remodelled once implanted. Our goal is to divert the remodelling response toward regeneration, but this may be confounded by the nature of the implant. Many of the mediators and cells involved in immune and inflammatory responses are also involved in wound healing and regeneration. As such, we expect that methods used to minimise damaging responses will interact with regeneration. Understanding this interaction is critical in order to direct intelligent design for the next generation of tissue engineering.

---

Selected Publications

• Jones, K.S., Gorczynski, R.M., Sefton, M.V. Suppressed splenocyte proliferation following a xenogeneic skin graft due to implanted biomaterials. Submitted to Transplantation.
• Jones, K.S., Gorczynski, R.M., Sefton, M.V. In vivo recognition by the host adaptive immune system of microencapsulated xenogeneic cells. Transplantation, 2004, 78(10) 1454-62.
• Jones, K.S., McKersie, B.D. Paroschy, J. Prevention of ice propagation by permeability barriers in bud axes of Vitis vinifera. Can. J. Bot. 78, 3-9.
• McKersie, B. D. Murnaghan J. Jones, K.S., Bowley, S. R. Iron-Superoxide dismutase expression in transgenic alfalfa increases winter survival without a detectable increase in photosynthetic oxidative stress tolerance. Plant. Physiol. 122, 14217-1437

Book Chapters

McKersie, B.D., Bowley, S.R., Jones, K.S., Gossen, B. (1999) Winter survival of transgenic Medicago sativa over-expressing superoxide dismutase. In M.F. Smallwood, Calvert, C.M. and Bowles (eds.) Plant Responses to Environmental Stress, Bios Scientific Publishers.

Patents

McKersie, B.D., Bowley, S.R. Jones, K.S., Samis, K. Enhanced Storage Organ Production in Plants. Patent # 6,518,486 - Awarded February 11, 2003