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.

We're moving!

We're excited to announce that the lab will be joining the Lawrence D. Longo MD Center for Perinatal Biology! Sonnet, Sam, Sarah and Neeka will be relocating to Loma Linda University on July 1, 2025. We will be continuing all our research projects to understand fetal and neonatal cardiovascular development with new colleagues. While sad to be leaving beautiful Portland, we are looking forward to new adventures and opportunity for growth.