Gary L. Johnson

Gary L. Johnson is an American scientist and Professor recognized for his work with oncogene and Stem cell in the fields of molecular pharmacology and cancer cell biology. His other research interests include Cell signaling networks controlling cell function and disease and the behavior of the Kinome en masse in cancer..
Johnson is a past Kenan Distinguished Professor, chair of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Pharmacology, and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Johnson earned his B.A. in Biology in 1971 at California State University, Northridge, where he graduated Latin honors, and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 1976 at the University of Colorado Medical School. He then completed his PostDoc in 1979 at the University of California, San Francisco. He served as the chair of the Department of Pharmacology at UNC Chapel Hill from 2003-2017 and was a Kenan Distinguished Professor from 2011-2019. During his time in education, Johnson trained over 80 postdoctoral fellows and PhD students. Now, Johnson works as the co-director of the Program in Molecular Therapeutics for the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and director of the Human Genome RNAi/CRISPR Screening Facility.
From 1994 to 1999, Johnson served as the Director of Cell Biology for Cadus Pharmaceuticals Inc. He worked four years as a consultant for Atherogenics, Inc. He was a co-founder of KinoDyn, Inc., a biotech company located in Chapel Hill, NChttps://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.kinodyn_inc.248bc02d9dcf62214e3b0d15e1457223.html.
Johnson has made many contributions to the fields of molecular pharmacology and cell biology. In the early 90s, his laboratories demonstrated that oncogenes, such as Ras and Src, activated the MAPK, ERK1/2. This research defined the MAPK signaling network as part a large network of MAP3Ks, MAP2Ks, and MAPKs. They defined the role MAPKs in proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasionGallego, C., Gupta, S.K., Heasley, L.E., Qian, N.-X. and Johnson, G.L. (1992) Mitogen-activated protein kinase activation resulting from selective oncogene expression in NIH 3T3 and Rat 1a cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89, 7355-7359 PMC50199. His laboratory published 250 MAPK network related papers. His lab was one to demonstrate that Agonist targeting the same GPCR have "biased agonism" and "asymmetric signaling."Heasley, L.E., Zamarripa, J., Storey, B., Helfrich, B., Mitchell, F.M., Bunn, Jr., P.A. and Johnson, G.L. (1996) Discordant signal transduction and growth inhibition of small cell lung carcinomas induced by expression of GTPase-deficient G 16. J Biol Chem 271, 349-354 PMID: 8550585 This is when agonists activate signaling pathways at different distinct intensities. In his work with stem cells, they defined a mutation that captured self-renewing tissue stem cell in a permanent state of EMTVincent Jordan, N., Prat, A., Abell, A.N., Zawistowski, J.S., Sciaky, N., Karginov, O.A., Zhou., B, Golitz, B.T., Perou, C.M., Johnson, G.L.. (2013) SWI/SNF Chromatin-remodeling Factor Smarcd3/Baf60c Controls EMT by Inducing Wnt5a Signaling. Mol Cell Biol 33, 3011-3025. PMC3719671. The lab has also made advancements in Adaptive Kinome Programming. They defined the adaptive bypass mechanisms that result in the lack of durable responses to targeted kinase inhibitorsJohnson, G.L., Stuhlmiller, T.J., Angus, S.P., Zawistowski, J.S., Graves, L.M. (2014) Molecular Pathways: Adaptive Kinome Reprogramming in Response to Targeted Inhibition of the BRAF-MEK-ERK Pathway in Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 20: 2516-2522 PMC4024346. Overall, Johnson has over 300 published papersMy Bibliography - NCBI (nih.gov)
In 2018, Johnson was awarded the Hyman L. Battle Award for Cancer Research. In 2008, he won a Merit Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Category:American scientists
Category:American professors