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Ana Masiulis Jonas (November 24, 1943 – June 12, 2024) was an American biochemist born in Lithuania. She was on the faculty of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) from 1974 until 2001. Her research "advanced our understanding of the role lipoproteins play in cardiovascular disease".

Early life and education

Ana Masiulis was born in Rokiškis, Lithuania. She was a refugee in Germany as a baby, and was raised in Argentina. She moved to the United States in 1962, with her family. She graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago in 1966, and completed doctoral studies in biochemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 1970. Her doctoral dissertation was titled "Physicochemical Studies on the Tertiary Structure of Bovine Serum Albumin." She was granted United States citizenship in 1967.

Career

Jonas joined the faculty of UIUC in 1974, started her own laboratory in 1977, and achieve full professor status in 1985. She and her colleague Charles Matz developed a technique for generating reconstituted HDL, which was used in laboratories for decades afterward. She studied the structure of apolipoprotein A1, and its role in cardiovascular health. She also studied the enzyme lecithin–cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT).

Jonas chaired the Gordon Research Conference on Lipid Metabolism in 1990. She received the Lyman Duff Lectureship Award from the American Heart Association. In 2024, she received the Jack Oram Lifetime Achievement Award for HDL Research.

Publications

• "Micellar complexes of human apolipoprotein A-I with phosphatidylcholines and cholesterol prepared from cholate-lipid dispersions" (1982, with C. E. Matz)
• "Discoidal complexes of A and C apolipoproteins with lipids and their reactions with lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase" (1984, with S. A. Sweeny and P. N. Herbert)
• "Defined apolipoprotein AI conformations in reconstituted high density lipoprotein discs" (1989, with K. E. Kézdy and J. H. Wald)
• "NMR Study of the Cold, Heat, and Pressure Unfolding of Ribonuclease A" (1995, with Jing Zhang, Xiangdong Peng, and Jiri Jonas)
• "The role of apolipoprotein AI domains in lipid binding" (1996, with W. Sean Davidson, Theodore Hazlett, and William W. Mantulin)
• "Predicting the structure of apolipoprotein A-I in reconstituted high-density lipoprotein disks" (1997, with J. C. Phillips, W. Wriggers, Z. Li, and K. Schulten)
• "Regulation of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase activity" (1998)
• "Stabilization of α-Synuclein Secondary Structure upon Binding to Synthetic Membranes" (1998, with W. Sean Davidson, David F. Clayton, and Julia M. George)

Personal life

Ana Masiulis married Czech-born chemist Jiri Jonas in 1968. The Jonases retired to Naples, Florida, in 2001. She died in 2024, at the age of 79, while vacationing in Alaska.

References

1. ^ Ana Masiiulis, "Petition for Naturalization" (1962), U.S. Federal Naturalization Records, via Ancestry.
2. ^ "In Memoriam: Emerita Biochemistry Professor Ana Jonas". UIUC, School of Molecular & Cellular Biology. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
3. "Circle Campus Rite is Today". Chicago Tribune. 1966-06-19. p. 76. Retrieved 2024-12-29 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Jonas, Ana Masiulis. Physicochemical Studies on the Tertiary Structure of Bovine Serum Albumin. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1970.
5. "State Heart Association Grant to 11 Downstate Researchers". The Taylorville Daily Breeze Courier. 1975-08-14. p. 11. Retrieved 2024-12-30 – via Newspapers.com.
6. ^ Anne-Rye, Kerry; Davidson, W. Sean (December 2024). "In memoriam: Ana Jonas, PhD". Journal of Lipid Research. 65 (12): 100690. doi:10.1016/j.jlr.2024.100690.
7. Matz, C E; Jonas, A (April 1982). "Micellar complexes of human apolipoprotein A-I with phosphatidylcholines and cholesterol prepared from cholate-lipid dispersions". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 257 (8): 4535–4540. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(18)34756-2.
8. Jonas, A; Sweeny, S A; Herbert, P N (May 1984). "Discoidal complexes of A and C apolipoproteins with lipids and their reactions with lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 259 (10): 6369–6375. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(20)82151-6.
9. Jonas, A; Kézdy, K E; Wald, J H (March 1989). "Defined Apolipoprotein A-I Conformations in Reconstituted High Density Lipoprotein Discs". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 264 (9): 4818–4824. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(18)83664-X.
10. Zhang, Jing; Peng, Xiangdong; Jonas, Ana; Jonas, Jiri (1995-07-11). "NMR Study of the Cold, Heat, and Pressure Unfolding of Ribonuclease A". Biochemistry. 34 (27): 8631–8641. doi:10.1021/bi00027a012. ISSN 0006-2960. PMID 7612603.
11. Davidson, W. Sean; Hazlett, Theodore; Mantulin, William W.; Jonas, Ana (1996-11-26). "The role of apolipoprotein AI domains in lipid binding". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 93 (24): 13605–13610. Bibcode:1996PNAS...9313605D. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.24.13605. PMC 19365. PMID 8942981.
12. Phillips, J.C.; Wriggers, W.; Li, Z.; Jonas, A.; Schulten, K. (November 1997). "Predicting the structure of apolipoprotein A-I in reconstituted high-density lipoprotein disks". Biophysical Journal. 73 (5): 2337–2346. Bibcode:1997BpJ....73.2337P. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(97)78264-X. PMC 1181137. PMID 9370429.
13. Jonas, Ana (1998-09-01). "Regulation of lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase activity". Progress in Lipid Research. 37 (4): 209–234. doi:10.1016/S0163-7827(98)00007-1. ISSN 0163-7827. PMID 10193526.
14. Davidson, W. Sean; Jonas, Ana; Clayton, David F.; George, Julia M. (April 1998). "Stabilization of α-Synuclein Secondary Structure upon Binding to Synthetic Membranes". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 273 (16): 9443–9449. doi:10.1074/jbc.273.16.9443.
15. "Dedication to the University of Illinois leads to purposeful giving to science and medicine". Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois. Retrieved 2024-12-19.

• 1943 births
• 2024 deaths
• University of Illinois alumni
• University of Illinois faculty
• American women scientists
• American biochemists