Jane Johnson, Ph.D.

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Dr. Johnson obtained her B.S. in Chemistry (1983) and her Ph. D. in Biochemistry (1988) at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her Ph. D. research was with Dr. Stephan Hauschka on muscle development. Postdoctoral research with Dr. David Anderson at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena led to the discovery of Ascl1 (previously Mash1), an essential transcription factor in neural development. She joined the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in December 1992 where she is currently a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience. 

The research in the Johnson lab is focused on vertebrate nervous system development during the transition from proliferating neural stem cells to differentiating neurons and glia. We use the bHLH family of transcription factors to probe the molecular mechanisms controlling the balance of neural progenitor cell maintenance and differentiation, and the generation of neuronal diversity. Alteration in function and expression of the neural bHLH factors result in disturbances of connectivity, imbalances in excitatory and inhibitory neuron formation and loss of control of neural cell number. Our focus on understanding how transcription factors regulate neuronal differentiation and diversity has direct implications for stem cell biology and cancer.

Undergraduate	University of Washington (1983)
Graduate School	University of Washington (1988)

• Cancer Biology: glioblastoma and small cell lung carcinoma
• Developmental Neuroscience: neurogenesis and neuronal specification
• Somatosensory circuit formation: dorsal spinal cord
• Transcription factor function in neural stem and progenitor cell biology

Featured Publications

Prdm13 mediates the balance of inhibitory and excitatory neurons in somatosensory circuits

Chang JC, Meredith DM, Mayer PR, Borromeo MD, Lai HC, Ou YH, and Johnson JE. Dev Cell 2013 in press

In vivo neuronal subtype-specific targets of atoh1 (math1) in dorsal spinal cord.

Lai HC, Klisch TJ, Roberts R, Zoghbi HY, Johnson JE J. Neurosci. 2011 Jul 31 30 10859-71

Ascl1 (Mash1) defines cells with long-term neurogenic potential in subgranular and subventricular zones in adult mouse brain.

Kim EJ, Ables JL, Dickel LK, Eisch AJ, Johnson JE PLoS ONE 2011 6 3 e18472

Multiple transcriptional mechanisms control Ptf1a levels during neural development including autoregulation by the PTF1-J complex.

Meredith DM, Masui T, Swift GH, MacDonald RJ, Johnson JE J. Neurosci. 2009 Sep 29 36 11139-48

A Non-classical bHLH-Rbpj transcription factor complex is required for specification of GABAergic neurons independent of Notch signaling

Hori K, Cholewa-Waclaw J, Nakada Y, Glasgow SM, Masui T, Henke RM, Wildner H, Martarelli B, Beres TM, Epstein JA, Magneson MA, MacDonald RJ, Birchmeier C, and Johnson JE Genes and Development 2008 22 166-178

PTF1a determines GABAergic over glutamatergic neuronal cell fate in the spinal cord dorsal horn

Glasgow S, Henke RM, Wright C, MacDonald R, and Johnson JE Development 2005 132 5461-5469

Cross-Inhibitory Activities of NGN1, NGN2 and MATH1 Allow Specification of Distinct Dorsal Interneurons

Gowan K, Helms AW, Hunsaker T, Collisson T, Ebert PJ, Odom R and Johnson JE Neuron 2001 31 219-232

Ascl1 expression defines a subpopulation of lineage-restricted progenitors in the mammalian retina.

Brzezinski JA, Kim EJ, Johnson JE, Reh TA Development 2011 Aug 138 16 3519-31

Spatiotemporal fate map of neurogenin1 (Neurog1) lineages in the mouse central nervous system.

Kim EJ, Hori K, Wyckoff A, Dickel LK, Koundakjian EJ, Goodrich LV, Johnson JE J. Comp. Neurol. 2011 May 519 7 1355-70

Neurogenin 1 (Neurog1) expression in the ventral neural tube is mediated by a distinct enhancer and preferentially marks ventral interneuron lineages.

Quiñones HI, Savage TK, Battiste J, Johnson JE Dev. Biol. 2010 Apr 340 2 283-92

• The Nichole Silversteen Research Chair from Malia’s Cord Foundation
  (2008)
• Established Investigator of the American Heart Association
  (1995)

• Society for Developmental Biology
• Society for Neuroscience