Michael D. L. Johnson, PhD

Associate Professor, Immunobiology
Associate Dean, Basic Science Research and Graduate Studies
Associate Professor, BIO5 Institute
Associate Professor, Applied BioSciences - GIDP
Endowed Professor, Keating Family for Interdisciplinary Research at BIO5 Institute

Education:

Duke University, 2004 ( A.B. Music; Minor in Chemistry)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011, (Ph.D. Biochemistry and Biophysics)

Honors and Awards:

Participants say 100% online summer research program is top-quality https://research.arizona.edu/stories/participants-say-100-online-summer-..., 04/24
Colors of STEM: From Music to Microbes, University of Arizona, 04/24
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, From Music to Microbes, 04/24
Immunobiologist’s impact reaches far beyond the lab https://healthsciences.arizona.edu/connect/stories/immunobiologists-impa..., 01/24
The Importance of Professional Branding, MARC/MHD Class, 06/23
University of Arizona Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium Research Conference Keynote Speaker, 08/22
Interview for BIO5 Science Talks Podcast, 05/21
Interview for UAHS Health Sciences Connect, Title: Dr. Michael Johnson Recognized as Inspiring Black Scientist https://healthsciences.arizona.edu/connect/honors/dr-michael-johnson-rec..., 05/21
Interview for UAHS Health Sciences Connect, Title: Confronting Vaccine Hesitancy with Facts and Empathy https://healthsciences.arizona.edu/connect/features/confronting-vaccine-..., 04/21
Interview for UAHS Health Sciences Connect, Title: A Virtual Bridge to Grad School Built During the Pandemic https://healthsciences.arizona.edu/connect/features/virtual-bridge-grad-..., 04/21
Program to Advance Women Scientist (PAWS) Seminar: Prequel to networking 03/21
Interview for BIO5. Title: Unlikely Teammates Transform the Field of Respiratory Disease Biology https://www.bio5.org/news/unlikely-teammates-transform-field-respiratory..., 02/21
University of Arizona Centering Servingness Hispanic Serving Institution Webinar Series, Title: Building the Plane in the Air: An Evolving How to Guide on Providing Remote Research Opportunities to URMs in the Time of COVID-19, 02/21
Changemaker Award, Duke Alumni Engagement and Development, 11/21
NIGMS Director's Early Career Investigator Lecturer, 10/20
Cell Mentor 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America 2020 (Cell Press), 02/20

Major Areas of Research Interest:

Metals serve as vital nutrients to all biological systems. The overall goal of my laboratory is to investigate how bacteria maintain homeostasis within the metal milieu. This goal involves determining how metals are processed, the orchestrated response during metal sensing, and the role that the host plays in this process during infection. Understanding how bacteria interact with metals during infections will identify novel therapeutic strategies against bacterial infections.

Selected Publications:

O'Brien, H., T. Davoodian, and M. D. L. Johnson, "The promise of copper ionophores as antimicrobials.", Curr Opin Microbiol, vol. 75, pp. 102355, 2023 Oct. PMCID: PMC10529258 PMID: 37406562

Menghani, S. V., M. P. Cutcliffe, Y. Sanchez-Rosario, C. Pok, A. Watson, M. J. Neubert, K. Ochoa, H-J. Joyce Wu, and M. D. L. Johnson, ",-Dimethyldithiocarbamate Elicits Pneumococcal Hypersensitivity to Copper and Macrophage-Mediated Clearance.", Infect Immun, pp. e0059721, 2022 Mar 21. PMID: 35311543

O'Brien, H., J. W. Alvin, S. V. Menghani, K. Van Doorslaer, and M. D. L. Johnson, "Rules of expansion: an updated consensus operator site for the CopR/Y family of bacterial copper exporter system repressors", mSphere.00411-20 , vol. 1128, 05/2020.

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