Theresa A. Jones

Theresa A. Jones is a researcher and professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the Institute for Neuroscience. Her interests are in neural plasticity across the lifespan, motor skill learning, mechanisms of brain and behavioral adaptation to brain damage, and glial-neuronal interactions. Her research is on the brain changes following stroke, in particular rehabilitation strategies and the brain changes associated with them. She primarily tests rats and uses the Endothelin-1 stroke model. Her most recent work has expanded into the field of microstimulation mapping of the rat cortex. She began studying towards a major in general humanities, but she quickly found interest in the biological aspect of psychology. After leaving the University of Missouri in 1986, she went on to finish her Bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin in 1987. The lab has focused on three main questions: how the brain changes in response to altered behavioral experience, how the brain changes in adaptation to injury, and how behavioral experiences influence brain adaptation to injury.

Theresa Jones has published upwards of 80 peer-reviewed papers on these subjects, several of which have been cited over 100 times. The first was published in 1990 and the most recent in 2015. Jones TA, Schallert T "Overgrowth And Pruning Of Dendrites In Adult-Rats Recovering From Neocortical Damage" Brain Research 581 (1): 156-160 May 22, 1992 Times Cited: 148 Jones TA, Chu Cj, Grande La, Et Al. "Motor Skills Training Enhances Lesion-Induced Structural Plasticity In The Motor Cortex Of Adult Rats" Journal of Neuroscience 19 (22): 10153-10163 Nov 15 1999 Times Cited: 111 Jones TA, Kleim Ja, Greenough WT "Synaptogenesis And Dendritic Growth In The Cortex Opposite Unilateral Sensorimotor Cortex Damage In Adult Rats: A Quantitative Electron Microscopic Examination" Brain Research 733 (1): 142-148 Sep 9 1996 Times Cited: 96 Barth Tm, Jones Ta, Schallert T "Functional Subdivisions Of The Rat Somatic Sensorimotor Cortex" Behavioural Brain Research 39 (1): 73-95 Jun 18 1990 Times Cited: 95

Theresa Jones has submitted over 100 conference proceedings abstracts, several of which have been peer reviewed.

As a postdoctoral fellow, Theresa Jones was honored with the Donal B. Lindsley Award in Behavioral Neuroscience in 1993. She was among the Top 10 Great Dissertations awarded by the American Psychological Science in 2004. In 2006, she was named both a Raymond Dickson Centennial Teaching Fellow and an American Psychological Association Fellow. Theresa received the President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award in 2012 for her work at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2013, she was named an Association for Psychological Science Fellow. Most recently, Theresa Jones was honored with the Harry Ransom Award for Teaching Excellence in 2014.

Theresa Jones is a member of numerous regional and national level committees such as the NIH Clinical Neuroscience and Disease and Acute Neural Injury and Epilepsy study sections, LoneStar Preclinical Stroke Consortium, and APA Committee on Animal Research and Ethics. She also has numerous positions on departmental and university committees such as the Psychology Department Executive Committee, Behavioral Neuroscience Search Committee, and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.