About us

Sonnet Jonker's research focuses on heart growth and function before and around the time of birth because these months are critical for establishing life-long cardiovascular health.

Before birth, working cardiac myocytes proliferate abundantly, the coronary capillary tree expands, connective tissues are deposited in the heart and blood vessels throughout the body. The fetus is exquisitely responsive to its environment, though, and has the capacity to respond by altering growth and maturation in mere days. Adaptations help the fetus to meet a challenge, but may have long-term consequences. We are interested in how the fetus responds to adverse challenges, such as placental insufficiency, anemia, and congenital cardiac malformations, and whether we can improve their life-long health by stimulating beneficial adaptations in the perinatal period.

Check out our fantastic team, as well as our publications and on-going projects.

teamwork in surgery
Matt bracing Sam: teamwork in action, 2020.

Funded by

NIH / National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Medical Research Foundation
Collins Medical Trust
Knight Cardiovascular Institute
OHSU School of Medicine

Equity

Sonnet Jonker, Sam Louey, and the members of the Jonker Lab are committed to making careers in biomedical research accessible to everyone, no matter their race, culture, faith, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression, by actively supporting equitable access to training, collaboration, networking, appointment, promotion, and a positive work environment.

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