Sandra gained her BSc from the University of Leeds and her PhD from the University of Liverpool. She returned to Leeds for her first doctoral position, where her ongoing research into ageing and the heart began. This developed during her senior doctoral position, funded as principal investigator by the BHF, followed by a Lectureship in Physiology. Sandra was appointed to a Lectureship in Biomedical Science at Hull in 2007, and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2016. She is also a member of the Centre for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research at Hull York Medical School. Her research concerns the causes of cardiac dysfunction, particularly in association with ageing.
Conferences co-organized; 2016 British Society for Cardiovascular Research at the University of Leeds, 2014 Physiological Society Inaugural H3 symposium London, 2011 Northern Cardiac Research Group, at the University of Hull, 2009 British Society for Research on Ageing, University of Manchester.
Invited speaker; 2015 University of Florida, Gainesville, 'Ageing to Arrhythmias: Conundrums of Connections in the Ageing Heart'.
2014 Physiological Society Inaugural H3 Symposium, London, 'Stem Cells and the Heart: Where Do the Future Therapies Lie for Cardiac Regeneration?
2020 Symposium 'T-tubules as regulators of heart rhythm and function’ Organiser and Chair at the Joint meeting SCHCF + ALACF (Sociedad Chilena de Ciencias Fisiológicas + Asociación Latinoamericana de Ciencias Fisiológicas) in Chile.
Sandra is a Fellow of The Physiological Society (awarded 2018) and additionally the Society's representative at the University of Hull https://www.physoc.org/.
In 2020 Sandra was elected as a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) via the Basic Cardiovascular Science committee, in recognition of my leadership, scientific and professional accomplishments.
My research revolves around changes in whole heart and cellular function with increasing age, from the perspectives of normal physiology and pathophysiology. My particular area of study are the changes in ionic regulation with age leading to the predisposition to arrhythmias, and other disorders of excitation and contraction within the elderly heart. Primarily my research group have used proteomics to examine the associated changes in protein expression and regulatory systems responsible for producing the age-associated changes in phenotype, coupled with functional measurements using electrophysiology. Recent targeted proteins in the mammalian heart have been the gap junctional subunit connexin43, the differing isoforms of the voltage-gated sodium ion channels and voltage-gated calcium ion channels. Our studies have conclude the change in expression of these ion channels expressed in the age heart, leave the age heart in a state of imbalance and experience high frequency of arrhythmias. Furthermore, we are now using interventions to protect the heart as it ages from the onset of associated pathologies, ranging from the global (e.g. exercise interventions), to the specific pharmaceutical agents (e.g. directed manipulation of signaling pathways), leading a novel approach to reduce AF events, to ultimately become a therapeutic strategy to prevent and treat AF in the elderly who are often unfit for surgery.
Director of MSc in Biomedical Sciences, taught programme.
Module leader - Muscle fitness and failure (level 6)
Module leader - Diseases in Biomedicine (level 7)
Academic support tutor to all MSc Biomedical Sciences students, plus students at Levels 3, 4, 5 & 6.
Sandra has conducted thesis with viva examinations both as Internal and External examiner, with experience of MSc, PhD and MD students.
Sandra also has experience as Panel member of degree validation, specialism in Biomedical Science/Bioscience.
Regulation of sinus node pacemaking and atrioventricular node conduction by HCN channels in health and disease
Boyett, M. R., Yanni, J., Tellez, J., Bucchi, A., Mesirca, P., Cai, X., …D'Souza, A. (in press). Regulation of sinus node pacemaking and atrioventricular node conduction by HCN channels in health and disease. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2021.06.008
An age-associated reduction in Nav1.5 protein expression correlates with an increase in Nav1.8 protein expression in the right atrial appendage of the human heart.
Isaac, E., Cooper, S., Lancaster, M., Loubani, M., & Jones, S. (2020). An age-associated reduction in Nav1.5 protein expression correlates with an increase in Nav1.8 protein expression in the right atrial appendage of the human heart. Circulation Research, 127(Suppl_1), A493
Do age-associated changes of voltage-gated sodium channel isoforms expressed in the mammalian heart predispose the elderly to atrial fibrillation?
Isaac, E., Cooper, S. M., Jones, S. A., & Loubani, M. (2020). Do age-associated changes of voltage-gated sodium channel isoforms expressed in the mammalian heart predispose the elderly to atrial fibrillation?. World Journal of Cardiology, 12(4), 123-135. https://doi.org/10.4330/wjc.v12.i4.123
K2p3.1 protein is expressed as a transmural gradient across the rat left ventricular free wall
Jones, S. A., Walton, R. D., Morton, M., & Lancaster, M. K. (2019). K2p3.1 protein is expressed as a transmural gradient across the rat left ventricular free wall. Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, 30(3), 383-391. https://doi.org/10.1111/jce.13805
Interactions of short-term and chronic treadmill training with aging of the left ventricle of the heart
Walton, R. D., Jones, S. A., Rostron, K. A., Kayani, A. C., Close, G. L., McArdle, A., & Lancaster, M. K. (2016). Interactions of short-term and chronic treadmill training with aging of the left ventricle of the heart. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 71(8), 1005-1013. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glv093
Dr Jones welcomes applicants with experience in mammalian physiology (at degree level) and specific knowledge of the heart. Applicants should understand how ion channels contribute and give rise to the normal action potential of the mammalian heart at a basic degree level, as her research focuses on cardiac dysfunction and how it arises (for example with ageing). The techniques used in the laboratory are proteomic, genomic and functional. At the time of appointment, specific projects will be offered in line with ongoing projects in the group.
Completed PhDs
- Stephanie Cooper, Age-associated changes in the expression of voltage-gated sodium channel isoforms found within the rat heart, 2013-2019 (as primary supervisor)
- Amy Dawson, Paper Microfluidics for Clinical Diagnostics Using Colorimetric Detection Methods, 2010-14 (as second supervisor)
- Dr Fiona Hatch, Age-Associated Changes to Calcium Handling Proteins across the Whole Heart, 2009-13 (as primary supervisor)
- Amy Dawson, Age-Dependent Expression and Distribution of Cardiac Progenitor Cells in the Adult Heart, 2009-10 (Research MSc, as primary supervisor)
Current MD supervisions
-Dr Emmanuel Isaac, Discovering mechanisms of AF. 2018-21
(Primary supervisor Sandra Jones, second supervisor Prof M Loubani)
Clinical role
Honorary Scientist
2018 - 2022
In accordance with the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Honorary Contract Policy, Sandra's contract in an honorary (unpaid) capacity as a Scientist has been extended from the 01st August 2020 to the 31st July 2021.
Conference organisation
T-tubules as regulators of heart rhythm and function’
2020 - 2020
Organised and Chaired a symposium entitled 'T-tubules as regulators of heart rhythm and function’ at a conference hosted in Chile. The conferences was part of Sociedad Chilena de Ciencias Fisiológicas (SCHCF) and President Asociación Latinoamericana de Ciencias Fisiológicas (ALACF)' Our symposium was sponsored by the Physiological Society.
Conference presentation
An age-associated reduction in Nav1.5 protein expression correlates with an increase in Nav1.8 protein expression in the right atrial appendage of the human heart.
2020 - 2020
ePoster at Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific Sessions 2020
External examiner role
PhD thesis, University of Manchester
2020 - 2020
I was the invited External Examiner for Nathan Denham. I assessed his PhD thesis and conducted and oral examination (viva).
Honorary position
Visiting Lecturer University of Leeds
2014 - 2022
Visiting Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences. This gives me access to the labs, and enables me to work with my collaborators at the University of Leeds.
Journal editorial role
Frontiers of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Switzerland
2010
Biogerontology, Springer Publishing House, Denmark.
2009 - 2016
Editorial Board member
Membership/Fellowship of professional body
Fellow of the American Heart Association
2020
Elected to Fellowship status by the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences committee of the American Heart Association
Fellow of the Physiological Society
2018
Awarded fellowship status of the Physiological Society
Membership of The British Society for Cardiovascular Research (BSCR)
2010
Membership of British Society for Research on Ageing (BSRA)
1995