Scientist Spotlight – Carolyn Jones, PhD

While she thought she was not “clever enough” to go to university, the pathologist she worked with at the Dental School thought differently and encouraged her to apply as a mature student. Having applied to various British Universities, it was Manchester that was particularly interested—if she took just one more advanced class. So, she quit the job, enrolled at a technical college, and completed her secondary level credential. Since then, she has collected a series of degrees, all from the University of Manchester (UK). These range from a BSc (Honors) in Zoology (1970), followed by an MSc on the ultrastructure of rat mammary gland (1971) earned also while working in a pathology lab, and (after an adventure with her husband in Uganda during the Idi Amin years) she was offered a post as research assistant to work on the placenta for her PhD (1976). Most recently, she obtained a Higher Doctorate (DMedSc; 2011), awarded only to candidates who have made original and substantial contributions to their field of study with a body of published work to support their expertise in the field. A workaholic, she continues to write, prolifically, as supported by her lengthy bibliography, which includes 235 full peer-reviewed publications, over 100 abstracts, and 22 book chapters.

“I yearn for those old days of film, but of course, they’ll never come back. You could actually photograph what you saw down through the microscope and you got a really fine, crisp image”

Since her first exposure to electron microscopy in 1964, the instruments have changed significantly, but the biggest change Carolyn notes is the conversion from film to digital imaging. In her days using film, there were 24 pieces of cut film loaded into cassettes in a camera box. A more disciplined (and much slower) approach was needed then, because after exposing one box of film, you would have to stop, empty the cassettes, develop the film, reload new film into cassettes, and wait for the machine to achieve a high vacuum again. While digital technology has the advantage of being able to create hundreds of images non-stop that can all be stored on disk, she sees a distinct disadvantage because of the pixilation artifacts that occur, which were never an issue with film.

“It was just by accident that I got into lectin histochemistry of the animal placenta. I was talking to a Danish veterinary anatomist on a train after a meeting who said that she had some pig placenta. And I said—“Oooh, how interesting—you know I’m working with lectins, and I’d love to do lectin histochemistry on a pig placenta.” She sent me some specimens, and we started collaborating. And then her colleagues offered me cow placenta, sheep placenta, camel and more. This is how my placenta work grew, and I became a one-woman expert on glycosylation of animal placentae.”

When it comes to trying to encapsulate her story-filled science career of over 60 years into a succinct spotlight, one cannot ignore the atypical aspects of a outwardly academic track. She has never had a grant. After a brief post-doctoral position in rheumatology, she was approached by her former Professor in Pathology and offered a permanent position setting up a lectin lab and establishing techniques at the light and electron microscope level. Her post was soon converted to that of Experimental Officer and then to Research Fellow, with no teaching responsibilities and minimal administration, nor did she deal much with students, although now she does help them with their writing. The Pathology Department also ran an electron microscope unit and, following the retirement of its maintenance staff, she unofficially took it over, collaborating with groups both locally and internationally “on the side,” thus funding the running of the machine as well as her research and enabling her to “experiment with lectins and look at whatever tissues I was able to obtain”. Since lectin histochemistry is an inexpensive endeavor where working at microgram concentrations is common, a 5-mg vial can last a long time. That’s important when your love of imaging is visionary.