Katherine Jones (academic)
Katherine A. Jones is a professor of regulatory biology and the Edwin K. Hunter Chair at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. She uses proteomics to study transcription elongation and molecular biology to understand protein coordination. Jones identified elongation factors, a class of proteins which are important in viral gene expression. Early life and education Jones earned her PhD in biochemistry at the University of California, Riverside. She was made a Pew Scholar in 1987. Her Pew Foundation fellowship allowed her to study the transcription mechanisms that are responsible for rapid induction in mammalian genes. Jones showed how the RNA polymerase II transcription factor Sp1 binds to DNA and activates RNA. Research and career Jones is a professor of regulatory biology and Edwin K. Hunter Chair at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Jones holds an adjunct position at University of California, San Diego. She has worked extensively on understanding the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). She investigated several proteins that interact with HIV-Tat (Tat). Tat is a protein created by HIV, which has been described as an "engine for HIV replication". Jones identified several proteins (including Cyclin T1, CycT1, and SSu72) that are required for HIV gene expression. SSu72 is