Medical College of Wisconsin

Jonathan received his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, before undertaking postdoctoral training as a Wellcome Trust Training Fellow in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at the University of California, Irvine. He was a faculty member in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota from 2002 to 2017, before joining the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) as the Marcus Chair of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy in 2017.

In a groundbreaking study, Jonathan and his team solved a 40 year-old mystery by identifying the parasite target of the anthelmintic drug praziquantel. PZQ is an essential drug for treating schistosomiasis and other diseases caused by parasitic flatworms. Discovery of this target now realizes new opportunity for target-based drug development, realized, for example, by discovery of the new benzamidoquinazolinones (BZQs) class of compounds, which show promise as broad-spectrum treatments for trematode infections in humans.

His current research encompasses discovery of new antiparasitic agents for combating schistosomiasis, and investigation of the role of ion channels in the endoplasmic reticulum, endosomes and lysosomes in cell signaling, drawing on techniques including high-throughput screening, RNA interference, and high-resolution microscopy.