Education:
- BA (Biology), Warren Wilson College, 1992
- MS (Biology), Western Carolina University, 1997
- PhD (Biochemistry) Wake Forest University, 2003
- Research Fellowship (Biochemistry) Wake Forest University, 2003-05
Research Interests:
As an analyst in Wake Forest University's Mass Spectrometry Facility, under the direction of Dr. Michael J. Thomas, my main research interest is the development of new analytical methods for lipids and proteins using mass spectrometry. Clients in Lipid Sciences, in the University's Comprehensive Cancer Center, and in other groups both within and outside Wake Forest University, collaborate with the Mass Spectrometry Facility to solve their most daunting analytical biochemistry problems. One such collaboration recently led to the development of a method for quantifying wild-type and mutant proteins, different at only one amino acid, when both proteins are present in a biological sample (J Lipid Res. 2007 Jan;48(1):226-34).
Currently, some of my collaborative projects aim to identify and quantify a diverse range of lipids, including polyphosphoinositides in prostate cancer cells, platelet-activating factor in breast tumors and healthy breast tissue, plant-derived isoprenoids in human plasma, fungal sterols, and mammalian oxysterols.
Publications:
Owen JS, Thomas MJ, Wykle RL. Platelet-activating factor. Methods Enzymol. 2007;434:105-16.
Owen JS, Bharadwaj MS, Thomas MJ, Bhat S, Samuel MP, Sorci-Thomas MG. Ratio determination of plasma wild-type and L159R apoA-I using mass spectrometry: tools for studying apoA-IFin. J Lipid Res. 2007 Jan;48(1):226-34.
Witzenrath M, Gutbier B, Owen JS, Schmeck B, Mitchell TJ, Mayer K, Thomas MJ, Ishii S, Rosseau S, Suttorp N, Schütte H. Role of platelet-activating factor in pneumolysin-induced acute lung injury. Crit Care Med. 2007 Jul;35(7):1756-62.
Owen JS, Baker PR, O'Flaherty JT, Thomas MJ, Samuel MP, Wooten RE, Wykle RL. Stress-induced platelet-activating factor synthesis in human neutrophils. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2005 Apr 15;1733(2-3):120-9.
Owen JS, Wykle RL, Samuel MP, Thomas MJ. An improved assay for platelet-activating factor using HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry. J Lipid Res. 2005 Feb;46(2):373-82.
O'Flaherty JT, Rogers LC, Chadwell BA, Owen JS, Rao A, Cramer SD, Daniel LW. 5(S)-Hydroxy-6,8,11,14-E,Z,Z,Z-eicosatetraenoate stimulates PC3 cell signaling and growth by a receptor-dependent mechanism. Cancer Res. 2002 Dec 1;62(23):6817-9.
Baker PR, Owen JS, Nixon AB, Thomas LN, Wooten R, Daniel LW, O'Flaherty JT, Wykle RL. Regulation of platelet-activating factor synthesis in human neutrophils by MAP kinases. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2002 Oct 21;1592(2):175-84.
Awards, Honors, Memberships: