Long before Jonathan Ball (NDFS ’26) began studying cells under a microscope, his commitment to service took shape overseas. Ball grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, where his time volunteering at an orphanage for children with disabilities revealed how medical care can profoundly influence healing and quality of life. That experience left a lasting impression. “Living in a place where people visibly needed help and care completely changed my worldview,” Ball says. As a result, Ball finds immense purpose in the lab, where he can see firsthand how scientific mechanisms meaningfully impact people’s lives.
That sense of purpose now shapes the questions Ball pursues in the lab, where he has joined the work initiated by Dr. Jake Sorensen, an exercise sciences professor, and supported by Dr. Chad Hancock, a nutritional science professor, to study volumetric muscle loss (VML).
Volumetric muscle loss (VML) is characterized by the substantial loss of muscle tissue resulting from a range of traumatic situations, including explosions, car crashes, gunshot wounds, and surgical removal of tissue following severe infection or cancer. “Unfortunately,” Ball explains, “not only do you lose function in the area where the muscle tissue has been lost, but the surrounding tissue also begins to atrophy. Because of this, many people ultimately require amputations, even years after the initial injury.” This progressive degeneration makes VML particularly devastating, as patients often face worsening outcomes over time. For this reason, urgent intervention is needed to preserve muscle health and function long after the original trauma.
“Our research has two main goals,” Dr. Sorensen shares. “First, to examine the injury pathology and try to understand why these devastating injuries fail to heal on their own. Understanding these barriers help explain why current treatments fall short. Second, we are developing therapies to transplant new muscle tissue and restore function.” Guided by Dr. Sorensen, Ball began investigating what causes the surrounding muscle tissue in VML injuries to deteriorate. His work points to dysfunction in mitochondria as a central factor in this process.
Ball uses respirometry to measure oxygen consumption and assess mitochondrial health in muscle cells, testing juvenile stem cells as a potential therapeutic approach for VML patients. “When we apply juvenile stem cell treatments, our data shows improvements in mitochondrial respiration, which may translate into better muscle function,” Ball shares. Although additional testing is needed, early results suggest that juvenile stem cell therapy could help stabilize damaged muscle and support recovery. “The transplants successfully replaced lost muscle fibers, but those new fibers remained very small. This suggests that although new muscle is forming, it may not yet be fully connected to nerves or receiving the signals needed to grow and strengthen,” Dr. Sorensen explains. “It also indicates that recovery after these injuries likely takes more time and may require additional stimulation.” Though there is still a way to go before complete muscle regeneration is possible, this research is significant because it advances a promising treatment strategy that could preserve strength and mobility in VML patients.
Ball credits much of the lab’s productivity to the mentorship of Dr. Sorensen and Dr. Hancock, whose guidance has shaped a culture of taking initiative. Members of the lab take the lead as they prepare tissue samples under magnification, run extended experiments on O2k respirometry machines, and regularly exchange insights with one another to refine their findings. In recognition of his work in the lab, Ball received first place in the NDFS category at the Life Sciences Research Conference.
Ball’s time in the lab has revealed how discoveries at the cellular level can influence patient care. Motivated by a desire to work directly with people, he hopes to pair research advancements with clinical procedures to help heal patients faster and better in his future career as a physician: “I’ve found that I get so much satisfaction from working with people.” That interest in hands-on service extends beyond the lab. Ball also volunteers at the Springville Food Bank, where he helps support individuals and families in his local community.
For Ball, service is not just an extracurricular commitment but a guiding principle shaped by the teachings of Jesus Christ. “Let's actually do what Jesus calls us to do,” Ball says, “let's work with people and see them for who they are: children of God. Let's serve our neighbor, meaning the unhoused and refugee. Let's get to work and do something about the unfairness in the world.”
That perspective ties together the experiences that first shaped his worldview overseas and the work he now pursues in the lab. Whether contributing to research that targets cellular healing, serving in the community, or preparing for a future in clinical medicine, Ball is motivated by the same goal that first took root in Thailand: finding meaningful ways to care for others.