About

Kathryn Maxson Jones is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Purdue University, with a research and teaching focus on the histories of science, technology, and medicine, along with related policy issues. She is currently working on a book titled "Sea Change: The Squid Giant Axon and the Transformation of Neurobiology," which examines the history of the squid giant axon as an experimental model in neurobiology during the 20th and 21st centuries. This work is based on her award-winning doctoral dissertation, which received the 2023 dissertation prize from the Division of the History of Science and Technology of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Dr. Maxson Jones has also published a book chapter and an article on the squid giant axon. Her research extends to the histories of regenerative biology, experimental and model organisms in life science, artificial intelligence, genomics, and molecular biology. She collaborates with the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, on a project exploring the question "What is neuron regeneration?" as part of the James S. McDonnell Initiative, which investigates regeneration across complex living systems. Supported by this initiative, she has also researched the history of lamprey neurobiology research. Additionally, her historical work includes examining the rise of data-sharing policies in molecular biology and genomics, inspired by her research at the Center for Public Genomics at Duke University. Beyond her historical research, Dr. Maxson Jones maintains an active portfolio in medical humanities, particularly focusing on challenges related to sharing human data within the U.S. BRAIN Initiative. Her work in this area was conducted during her time at Baylor College of Medicine, where she helped run the project "BRAINshare: Sharing Data in BRAIN Initiative Studies." Her research and writing have been featured in numerous scientific and humanities journals and books, including Neuron, Science, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, and the Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics. She holds a B.S. in Biology from Duke University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Science from Princeton University. When not engaged in research or teaching, she enjoys running, watching track and field, cooking, and playing with her Shih Tzu, Lilly.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Data science
• Sociology
• Neuroscience
• Genetics
• Internet privacy
• Psychology
• Biology
• Computational biology
• Business
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Benefits of sharing neurophysiology data from the BRAIN Initiative Research Opportunities in Humans Consortium

  Neuron · 2023 · 14 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Sociology
  • Neuroscience
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Complicated legacies: The human genome at 20

  Science · 2021 · 43 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Computer Science
  • Data science

  Millions of people today have access to their personal genomic information. Direct-to-consumer services and integration with other “big data” increasingly commoditize what was rightly celebrated as a singular achievement in February 2001 when the first draft human genomes were published. But such remarkable technical and scientific progress has not been without its share of missteps and growing pains. Science invited the experts below to help explore how we got here and where we should (or ought not) be going.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Nader Pouratian

  The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

  12 shared

• Sydney S. Cash

  Harvard University

  8 shared

• Ziv M. Williams

  Harvard University

  8 shared

• Robert Cook‐Deegan

  Arizona State University

  8 shared

• Kathryn A. Phillips

  University of California, San Francisco

  6 shared

• Dina Zielinski

  Inserm

  6 shared

• Sameer A. Sheth

  Rice University

  6 shared

• Gabriel Lázaro‐Muñoz

  Harvard University

  6 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Department of History, Program in History of Science

  Princeton University

  2021

• B.S., Department of Biology

  Duke University

  2010

Awards & honors

• 2023 dissertation prize from the Division of the History of…

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