J. Andrew Jones

J. Andrew Jones is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical, Paper, and Biomedical Engineering at Miami University. He joined Miami in 2017 and leads the Jones Lab, focusing on metabolic engineering to produce high-value chemicals like psilocybin. His research includes optimizing microbial pathways in E. coli for psychedelic medicine applications, highlighted in major media outlets like NPR and Scientific American. Jones holds a Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and degrees from Mercer University. He has secured over $2M in grants, published 30 peer-reviewed articles, and holds 13 patent applications. Notable awards include AIChE's 35Under35 in Bioengineering (2020) and Miami University's Junior Faculty Scholar (2021).

Education: Ph.D. (Chemical & Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2016); M.S. (Environmental Engineering, Mercer University, 2012); B.S. (Biomedical Engineering, Mercer University, 2012).

Research Interests: Metabolic Engineering, Psychedelic Medicine, Synthetic Biology, and microbial co-culture systems. His lab's work on psilocybin biosynthesis has advanced clinical drug development and regulatory frameworks for psychedelic therapeutics.

Awards: Over 15 honors, including National Academy of Inventors Senior Membership (2023), CEC Outstanding Faculty Research Award (2023), and Technology Commercialization Awards. His lab also engages in industry partnerships, such as with Biotherapeutics.

Advising & Grants: Trained over 40 students and staff, with active projects on tryptamine derivatives, biosensor development, and metabolic pathway optimization. His work bridges academia and industry, emphasizing scalable production methods and ethical applications of synthetic biology.

Labs/Teams: The Jones Lab at Miami University focuses on microbial engineering for drug production, with collaborations in psychology and clinical science to test behavioral effects of compounds like norbaeocystin.