J. Andrew Jones is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical, Paper, and Biomedical Engineering at Miami University. Prior to joining Miami, Dr. Jones spent 1 year as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Hamilton College (Clinton, NY). Dr. Jones completed his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) and his M.S. in Environmental Engineering and B.S. in general engineering, with specialization in Biomedical Engineering, at Mercer University (Macon, GA).

Dr. Jones joined Miami in the Fall of 2017. His research focuses on genetically engineering microorganisms for high-value chemical production. Using traditional and high-throughput molecular biology and biochemistry techniques, Dr. Jones takes a fine-tuned approach towards rewiring cellular metabolism of bacteria for more efficient chemical production.

Dr. Jones' research has been highlighted on National Public Radio [1, 2, 8], Chemical & Engineering News [3, 4], Vice News [5], High Times [6], and Scientific American [7]. Additionally, he has been selected for multiple awards including: AIChE's 35Under35 – Bioengineering (2020), Miami University's Junior Faculty Scholar Award (2021), and Miami's Associated Student Government – Outstanding Professor Award Finalist (2021). Dr. Jones has published over 20 peer-reviewed publications in top journals and has been cited over 1800 times since 2014. Dr. Jones is a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Article links below correspond with the bio above

1. Miami University Discovers New Way To Make Psychedelic Drugs
2. Who Made That Flavor? Maybe A Genetically Altered Microbe
3. Modified E. coli pump out the magic-mushroom compound psilocybin
4. Engineered microbes make 'natural' colorants
5. Get Ready for Pharmaceutical-Grade Magic Mushroom Pills
6. Researchers At Miami University Produce Psilocybin From E. coli Bacteria
7. E. coli Could Produce a Popular Psychedelic for Therapeutic Use
8. Miami University licenses the manufacturing of psychedelic drugs (just without the trip)

• PsyBio Therapeutics (2020–Present)
  • Inventor and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board
• Miami University: Oxford, OH (2017–Present)
  • Assistant Professor—Chemical, Paper, and Biomedical Engineering
    Teaching Experience:
    • CPB 102–Introduction to Chemical and Bioengineering
    • CPB 244—Introduction to Environmental Engineering
    • CPB 418—Biological Transport Phenomena
    • CPB 405—Industrial Environmental Control
    • CPB 436—Principles in Fermentation
    • CPB 441–Pollution Prevention in Environmental Management
    • CPB 442—Air Pollution Control
    • CPB 451—Unit Operations Laboratory II
    • CPB 471/472—Senior Design Projects
    • CPB 600—Graduate Seminar
• Hamilton College: Clinton, NY (2016–2017)
  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
  • Teaching Experience—Principles of Chemistry, Biophysical Chemistry, Principles of Chemistry Lab, Biological Chemistry Lab
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI): Troy, NY (2012–2016)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher – Koffas Lab (May 2016–Aug. 2016)
  • Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering
    • Thesis: Pathway Optimization and Balancing for the Improved Microbial Production of High-Value Chemicals.
    • Advisor: Dr. Mattheos Koffas
• Mercer University: Macon, GA (2007 – 2012)
  • Master of Science in Environmental Engineering
    • Thesis: Equilibrium and Kinetic Analysis of Fluoride Adsorption on Bone Charcoal
  • Bachelor of Science in Engineering
    • Concentration: Biomedical Engineering

• At Miami University:
  • Miami University – Student Government’s Outstanding Professor Award Finalist (Top 12) (2021)
  • Miami University – Junior Faculty Scholar (2021)
  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers—35 under 35 Award—Bioengineering (2020)
• Prior to Employment at Miami University
  • Metabolic Engineering XI (Awaji Island, Japan) – Poster Award (2016)
  • ACS BIOT – Best of BIOT Designation for Oral Presentation (2016)
  • ACS BIOT – Travel Grant (2016)
  • Phillip A. Groll Class of 1921 Undergraduate Mentorship Award (2015)
  • Research Highlighted on National Public Radio (NPR) – All Things Considered (Dec. 2014)
  • NSF GRFP - Honorable Mention (2013)
  • Howard P. Isermann Fellowship (2012-2013)
  • Wallace Duvall Excellence in Leadership, Undergraduate Commencement Award (2012)
  • Eagle Scout, in the Boy Scouts of America (2005)

1. Jones J. A. and Koffas M. A. G. MICROBIAL POLYCULTURES AND METHODS OF USE THEREOF. U.S. Patent No. 10,954,543 B2, Granted: March, 25th 2021
2. Adams A. M., Kaplan N. A., and Jones J. A. METHODS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PSILOCYBIN AND INTERMEDIATES OR SIDE PRODUCTS. PCT Application Number: PCT/US2020/051543. Claims priority to U.S. Provisional Applications: 62/990,633 and 62/926,875
   1. Adams A. M., Kaplan N. A., and Jones J. A. METHODS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PSILOCYBIN. U.S. Provisional Number: 62/926,875.
   2. Adams A. M., Kaplan N. A., and Jones J. A. METHODS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PSILOCYBIN AND INTERMEDIATES THEREOF. U.S. Provisional Application Number: 62/990,633.
3. McMurray M. S. and Jones J. A. PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN TRYPTAMINES PRESENT IN PSILOCYBE MUSHROOMS. U.S. Provisional Application Number: 63/135,054
4. Jones J. A. and Gibbons W. J. SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PHARMACEUTICAL PSILOCYBIN AND NORBAEOCYSTIN PRODUCTION. U.S. Provisional Application Number: 63/135,864
5. McMurray M. S. and Jones J. A. PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN TRYPTAMINES AND TRYPTAMINE DERIVATIVES. U.S. Provisional Application Number: 63/146,044
6. O’Dell P. J. and Jones J. A. OPTIMIZED METHODS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PSILOCYBIN AND INTERMEDIATES OR SIDE PRODUCTS. US Provisional Application Number: 63/176,590
7. Friedberg L. and Jones J. A. METHODS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF A METHYLATED TRYPTAMINE AND INTERMEDIATES OR SIDE PRODUCTS. US Provisional Application Number: 63/203,970

Key: †Undergraduate Student *Equal Contribution
Andrew Jones Google Scholar Profile

2021

1. *Gibbons Jr, W. J., *†McKinney, M. G., *†O’Dell, P. J., *†Bollinger, B. A., & Jones, J. A. (2021). Homebrewed Psilocybin: Can New Routes for Pharmaceutical Psilocybin Production Enable Recreational Use?. *Bioengineered*.
   Research Highlighted on:
   • NPR
   • IFLS News
   • HappyMag.tv

2020

1. Hreha T. N., Foreman S., Duran-Pinedo A., Morris A. R., Diaz-Rodrigues P., Jones J. A., Ferrara K., Bourges A., Rodriguez L., Koffas M. A. G., Hann M., Houser A., Barquera B. (2020) The three NADH dehydrogenases of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: their roles in energy metabolism and links to virulence. PLOS ONE. Accepted.

2019

1. †Adams A. M., †Kaplan N. A., †Wei Z., Brinton J. D., †Monnier C. S., †Enacopol A. L., Ramelot T. A., *Jones J. A. (2019) In Vivo Production of Psilocybin in E. coli. Metabolic Engineering. 56, 111-119.
   Research Highlighted on:

   Research Highlighted on

   • Vice News
   • High Times
   • C&EN
   • Yahoo News
   • Inverse News
   • Psychedelic Science Review
   • NPR
   • Scientific American
   • Youtube: It's Bloody Science
   • Youtube: BioLogic Podcast

2018

1. Jones J. A., Wang, X.(2018) Use of Bacterial Co-Cultures for the Efficient Production ofChemicals. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 53, 33-38.

Work Completed Prior to Miami University

2017

1. Jones J. A., †Vernacchio V. R., †Collins S. M., Shirke A. N., Xiu Y.,  Englaender J. A., Cress B. F., †McCutcheon C., Linhardt R. J., Gross R.,  Koffas M. A. G. (2017) Complete biosynthesis of anthocyanins using E. coli  polycultures. mBio. 8 (3), e00621-17.
2. *Xiu Y., *Jang S., Jones J. A., Zill N. A., Linhardt R. J., Jung G. Y., Yuan Q., Koffas M. A. G. (2017) Naringenin-responsive riboswitch-based fluorescent biosensor module for Escherichia coli co-cultures. Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 114(10), 2235-2244.
3. Englaender J. A., Jones J. A., Cress B. F., Kuhlman, T. E., Linhardt R. J., Koffas M. A. G. (2017) Effect of genomic integration location on heterogous protein expression and metabolic engineering. ACS Synthetic Biology. 6 (4), 710-720.

4. Fang Z., Jones J. A.,Zhou, J., Koffas M. A. G. (2017) Engineering Escherichia coli co-cultures for production of curcuminoids from glucose. Biotechnology Journal. 13 (5), 1700576."

2016

1. *He L., *Yu X., *Jones J. A., Baidoo E. E. K., Keasling J. D., Tang Y. J., Koffas M. A. G. (2016) Deciphering flux adjustments of engineered E. coli cells during fermentation with changing growth conditions. Metabolic Engineering. 39, 247-256.
2. *Whitaker W. B., *Jones J. A., *Bennett R. K., Gonzalez J., †Vernacchio V. R., †Collins S. M., Palmer M. A., Schmidt S., Antoniewicz M. R., Koffas M. A. G., Papoutsakis E. T. (2016) Engineering the biological conversion of methanol to specialty chemicals in Escherichia coli. Metabolic Engineering. 39, 49-59.
3. *Shirke A. N., *Su A., Jones J. A., Butterfoss G. L., Koffas M. A. G., Kim J. R., Gross R. (2016) Comparative thermal inactivation analysis of Aspergillus oryzae and Thiellavia terrestris cutinase: role of glycosylation. Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 114 (1), 63-73.
4. Cress B. F., Jones J. A., †Kim D., †Leitz Q., Englaender J. A., †Collins S. M., Linhardt R. J., Koffas M. A. G. (2016) Rapid generation of CRISPR/dCas9-regulated, orthogonally repressible hybrid T7-lac promoters for modular, tuneable control of metabolic pathway fluxes in E. coli. Nucleic Acids Research, 44 (9), 4472-4485.
5. Jones J. A. and Koffas M. A. G. (2016) Optimizing Metabolic Pathways for the Improved Production of Natural Products. Methods in Enzymology, 575, 179-193.
6. Wu G., Yan Q., Jones J. A., Tang Y. J., Fong S. S., Koffas M. A. G. (2016) Metabolic burden and its effect in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering applications. Trends in Biotechnology, 34 (8), 652-664.
7. Jones J. A., †Vernacchio V. R., Sinkoe A. L., †Collins S. M., Ibrahim M. H. A., †Lachance D. M., Hahn J., Koffas M. A. G. (2016) Experimental and computational optimization of an E. coli co-culture for the efficient production of flavonoids. Metabolic Engineering, 35, 55-63.
8. Hess V., Gallegos R., Jones J. A., Barquera B., Malamy M. H., Müller V. (2016) Occurrence of ferredoxin:NAD+ oxidoreductase activity and its ion specificity in several Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. PeerJ, 4, (e1515).

2015

1. Jones J. A., †Collins S. M., †Lachance D. M., †Vernacchio, V. R., Koffas M. A. G. (2015) Optimization of naringenin and p-coumaric acid hydroxylation using the native E. coli hydroxylase complex, HpaBC. Biotechnology Progress. 32 (1), 21-25.
2. Jones J. A., †Vernacchio V. R., †Lachance D. M., †Lebovich M., Fu L., Shirke A. N., Schultz V., Cress B., Linhardt R. J., & Koffas M. A. G. (2015) ePathOptimize: A combinatorial approach for transcriptional balancing of metabolic pathways. Scientific Reports, 5 (11301), 1- 10.
3. Cress B. F., Toparlak Ö. D., Guleria S., †Lebovich M., †Stieglitz J. T., Englaender J. A., Jones J. A., Linhardt R. J., and Koffas M. A. G. (2015) CRISPathBrick: Modular Combinatorial Assembly of Type II-A CRISPR Arrays for dCas9-Mediated Multiplex Transcriptional Repression in E. coli. ACS Synthetic Biology, 4 (9), 987-1000.
4. *Zhao S., *Jones J. A., †Lachance D. M., Bhan N., †Khalidi O., Venkataraman S., Wang Z., & Koffas M. A. G. (2015). Improvement of catechin production in Escherichia coli through combinatorial metabolic engineering. Metabolic Engineering, 28, 43-53.
5. Jones J. A., Toparlak Ö. D., & Koffas M. A. G. (2015). Metabolic pathway balancing and its role in the production of biofuels and chemicals. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 33, 52-59.
6. He W., Fu L., Li G., Jones J. A., Linhardt R. J., & Koffas M. A. G. (2015). Production of chondroitin in metabolically engineered E. coli. Metabolic Engineering, 27, 92-100.

2014

1. Jones J. A., Lackey L. W., & Lindsay K. E. (2014). Effects of wind and choice of cover material on the yield of a passive solar still. Desalination and Water Treatment, 52 (1-3), 48-56.

• Feb. 2021—Vnat 2021. Invited Presentation. Online/Virtual.
• Jan. 2021—Global Connectome - Society for Neuroscience. Online/Virtual.
• Nov. 2020—AIChE Annual Meeting. Online/Virtual.
• Nov. 2020—Miami University Department of Chemistry. Invited Lecture. Online/Virtual.
• Apr. 2020—Miami University MBI 450/550. Guest Lecture. Online/Virtual.
• Mar. 2020—Mercer University. Invited Lecture. Macon, GA.
• Mar 2020—Shorter University. Invited Lecture. Rome, GA.
• Dec. 2019—Miami University Board of Trustees. Invited Lecture. Oxford, OH.
• Nov. 2019—AIChE Annual Meeting. Oral Presentation. Orlando, FL.
• Sept. 2019—SEEC Living Learning Community. Oral Presentation. Oxford, Ohio
• Apr. 2019—Green Ball - Miami Chemical Society. Oral Presentation. Oxford, OH
• Apr. 2019—ACS National Meeting. Oral Presentation. Orlando, FL. (BIOT Division)
• Dec. 2018—Residence Hall Program: UG Research. Oral Presentation. Oxford, OH
• May 2018—Miami University—Department of Microbiology. Invited Lecture. Oxford, OH
• Nov. 2017—University of Toledo. Invited Lecture. Toledo, OH
• Apr. 2017—ACS National Meeting. Oral Presentation. San Francisco, CA (BIOT Division)
• Apr. 2017—ACS National Meeting. Oral Presentation. San Francisco, CA  (CHED Division)
• Mar. 2017—San Jose State University. Invited Lecture. San Jose, CA
• Mar. 2017—Miami University. Invited Lecture. Oxford, OH
• Nov. 2016—AIChE Annual Meeting. Oral Presentation. San Francisco, CA
• July 2016—Hamilton College. Invited Lecture. Clinton, NY
• July 2016—Rowan University. Invited Lecture. Glassboro, NJ
• June 2016—Metabolic Engineering 11. Poster Presentation. Awaji Island, Japan (Poster Award)
• Apr. 2016—Guest Lecture: Microbiology - "Engineering Transcription in E. col" RPI. Troy, NY
• Mar. 2016—ACS National Meeting. Oral Presentation. San Diego, CA (Best of BIOT Designation)
• Mar. 2016—ACS National Meeting. Oral Presentation. San Diego, CA (CHED Division)
• Mar. 2016—ACS National Meeting. Poster Presentation. San Diego, CA (BIOT Division, Sci-Mix)
• Jan. 2016—DOE: ARPA-E Grantee Meeting. Poster Presentation. San Diego, CA
• Nov. 2015—AIChE Annual Meeting. Oral Presentation. Salt Lake City, UT
• Nov. 2015—AIChE Annual Meeting. Poster Presentation. Salt Lake City, UT
• Nov. 2015—Union College. Invited Lecture. Schenectady, NY
• June 2015—Syn. Bio. Engineering, Evolution, & Design (SEED). Poster Presentation. Boston, MA
• April 2015—Northeast Bioengineering Conference (NEBEC). Poster Presentation. Troy, NY
• Nov. 2014—Mercer University. Invited Lecture. Macon, GA
• Nov. 2014—AIChE Annual Meeting. Oral Presentation. Atlanta, GA
• Nov. 2014—AIChE Annual Meeting. Poster Presentation. Atlanta, GA
• May 2012—Mercer Engineering Expo. Award for Best Podium Presentation. Macon, GA