Jane Johnson, Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Professor Endowed Title Shirley and William S. McIntyre Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience School Medical School Department Neuroscience | Pharmacology Graduate Programs Genetics, Development and Disease, Neuroscience Biography Download Curriculum Vitae 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 and holds the Shirley and William S. McIntyre Distinguished Chair in 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. Education Undergraduate University of Washington (1983) Graduate School University of Washington (1988) Research Interest Cancer biology: lineage heterogenity and plasticity in neuroendocrine tumors (lung & prostate) Developmental Neuroscience: neurogenesis and neuronal specification Somatosensory circuit formation: dorsal spinal cord Transcription factor function in neural stem and progenitor cell biology Publications Featured Publications ASCL1 protein domains with distinct functions in neuronal differentiation and subtype specification. Nakada Y, Martinez MJ, Johnson JE, Dev Biol 2025 Apr 523 32-42 Transcription factors ASCL1 and OLIG2 drive glioblastoma initiation and co-regulate tumor cell types and migration. Myers BL, Brayer KJ, Paez-Beltran LE, Villicana E, Keith MS, Suzuki H, Newville J, Anderson RH, Lo Y, Mertz CM, Kollipara RK, Borromeo MD, Lu QR, Bachoo RM, Johnson JE, Vue TY, Nat Commun 2024 Nov 15 1 10363 Neuroendocrine Differentiation in Prostate Cancer Requires ASCL1. Rodarte KE, Nir Heyman S, Guo L, Flores L, Savage TK, Villarreal J, Deng S, Xu L, Shah RB, Oliver TG, Johnson JE, Cancer Res 2024 Sep Inhibition of karyopherin ?1-mediated nuclear import disrupts oncogenic lineage- defining transcription factor activity in small cell lung cancer. Kelenis DP, Rodarte KE, Kollipara RK, Pozo K, Pal Choudhuri S, Spainhower KB, Wait SJ, Stastny V, Oliver TG, Johnson JE, Cancer Res 2022 Jun ASCL1, NKX2-1, and PROX1 co-regulate subtype-specific genes in small-cell lung cancer. Pozo K, Kollipara RK, Kelenis DP, Rodarte KE, Ullrich MS, Zhang X, Minna JD, Johnson JE, iScience 2021 Sep 24 9 102953 Positive autofeedback regulation of Ptf1a transcription generates the levels of PTF1A required to generate itch circuit neurons. Mona B, Villarreal J, Savage TK, Kollipara RK, Boisvert BE, Johnson JE, Genes Dev. 2020 Apr Intrinsic DNA binding properties demonstrated for lineage-specifying basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors. Casey BH, Kollipara RK, Pozo K, Johnson JE Genome Res. 2018 Mar Repression by PRDM13 is critical for generating precision in neuronal identity. Mona B, Uruena A, Kollipara RK, Ma Z, Borromeo MD, Chang JC, Johnson JE Elife 2017 Aug 6 ASCL1 and NEUROD1 Reveal Heterogeneity in Pulmonary Neuroendocrine Tumors and Regulate Distinct Genetic Programs. Borromeo MD, Savage TK, Kollipara RK, He M, Augustyn A, Osborne JK, Girard L, Minna JD, Gazdar AF, Cobb MH, Johnson JE Cell Rep 2016 Jul Transcription factor network specifying inhibitory versus excitatory neurons in the dorsal spinal cord Borromeo MD, Meredith DM, Castro D, Chang JC, Tung KC, Guillemot F, and Johnson JE Development 2014 141 2803-2812 Results 1-10 of 45 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last Honors & Awards MERIT AwardNICHD, NIH (2017) The Nichole Silversteen Research Chair from Malia’s Cord Foundation (2008) Established Investigator of the American Heart Association (1995) Professional Associations/Affiliations Society for Developmental Biology
