Rate My Professor Dylan Jones

Dylan E. Jones, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Biochemistry in the Chemistry Department at Colorado Mesa University, part of the Physical and Environmental Sciences division. Born and raised in northern Minnesota, he developed a passion for chemistry and mountains that led him westward. Jones earned his BA in ACS-certified Chemistry (Traditional track) and Biology from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, in 2014. That same year, he entered the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno, as a graduate student and served as a visiting scholar at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium, on two occasions. In 2019, he was awarded his PhD upon completing his dissertation, "Synthesis & Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Cyclotriazadisulfonamide (CADA) Analogues to Target Signal Peptides." From 2019 to 2022, Jones conducted postdoctoral research as a scholar in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the University of Nevada, Reno, in the laboratory of Robert O. Ryan, PhD. His work there examined the biochemistry underlying impaired mitochondrial function, aiming to identify molecular biomarkers for predicting and diagnosing various diseases, including cardiac disease, through studies on inborn errors of metabolism.

Since joining Colorado Mesa University in 2022, Jones teaches biochemistry lecture and laboratory, organic chemistry laboratory, and general chemistry lecture courses. He emphasizes guiding students to develop chemical intuition applicable to diverse chemical reactions, employing empathy, patience, and respect in his teaching approach. Jones' research specializations include inborn errors of metabolism linked to 3-methylglutaconic aciduria, the role of non-enzymatic chemical reactions therein, isomerization of trans-3-methylglutaconic acid, trans-3-methylglutaconyl CoA isomerization-dependent protein acylation, and 3-methylglutaric acid in energy metabolism. His key publications encompass "Diversion of acetyl CoA to 3-methylglutaconic acid caused by discrete inborn errors of metabolism" (Metabolites, 2022, co-authored with E.A. Jennings and R.O. Ryan), "Role of non-enzymatic chemical reactions in 3-methylglutaconic aciduria" (FEBS Journal, 2022), "Inborn errors of metabolism associated with 3-methylglutaconic aciduria" (Clinica Chimica Acta, 2021), "Isomerization of trans-3-methylglutaconic acid" (JIMD Reports, 2021), "3-Methylglutaric acid in energy metabolism" (Clinica Chimica Acta, 2019), "Reduction of progranulin-induced breast cancer stem cell propagation by sortilin-targeting cyclotriazadisulfonamide (CADA) compounds" (Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2021), and "Tsuji-Trost cyclization of disulfonamides; Synthesis of 12-membered, 11-membered, and pyridine-fused macrocyclic triamines" (ACS Omega, 2019).