Their research led to Munson and Jones publishing two papers on androsterone and monopalmitin in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Under the direction of Joseph S. Fruton, Jones' dissertation research involved the catalytic properties of cathepsin C, a type of protease.
Upon receiving her Ph.D., Jones moved to Boston, where she did a postdoctoral fellowship with Fritz Lipmann in the Chemical Research Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital.
[2] Although Jones had started out as a bacteriologist at Armour, she eventually found her passion to be research chemistry and enzymology.
Her work with Lipmann and Leonard Spector included the novel demonstration of ATP being involved in a reaction to activate Coenzyme A and produce pyrophosphate, and the discovery of carbamoyl phosphate, a key component of nucleotides which are essential to energy transfer within cells.
In 1966, fellow chemist Sally E. Hager and Jones published their work identifying a key enzyme that required glutamine for the synthesis of orotate.
[8] When Jones moved to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1966 as an associate professor, space in the biochemistry department was limited.
[2] In 1997, Mary Ellen Jones was recognized for her many contributions to UNC as a "scientist, humanist, and warrior in the struggle for gender equality in science" when the university chose to name a building after her.
"Mary Ellen was a paragon whose personal and scientific leadership shaped much of the basic research education at this institution," according to Dr. Stuart Bondurant.