curriculum vitae: Janet A. Johnston Ph.D.
1997 Ph.D. in Neurobiology. Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
1987 B.Sc. (Joint Hons) Degree in Physiology and Pharmacology
The University of Sheffield, England.
2005-present Lecturer, School of Medicine and Dentistry,
Queens University Belfast, N. Ireland.
1998-2005 Lecturer, School of Biology & Biochemistry,
Queens University Belfast, N. Ireland.
1997-2001 Alzheimer's Society Research Fellow, School of Biology & Biochemistry
The Queens University of Belfast, N. Ireland.
1992-1997 Ph.D. student, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
1987-1989 Research Pharmacologist, Glaxo Group Research, England.
Research Funding (current)
Shire Pharmaceuticals, Platelet b-secretase activity in vascular dementia.
Drs. J. Johnston and P. Passmore, 2006-2008, £52 000.
Health and Personal Social Services, N. Ireland: Processing of precursor proteins implicated in Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and Dementia with Lewy Bodies. This grant was amalgamated with: The role of a-synuclein in relation to Parkinsons Disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies. Drs J. Johnston and G.B. Irvine, 2002-2008, £608,900.
Research Collaborations
Within QUB, I collaborate with Drs Brent Irvine, Peter Passmore, and David craig. Externally, I have had successful collaborations with Dr. Richard Cowburn, Karolinska Inst, Sweden, and I co-supervised one Ph.D. student, who defended her thesis in October 2004. I also collaborate with Dr. Cora O’Neill, University College Cork; and Professor Ashley Bush, University of Melbourne.
Measures of esteem
External Examiner for PhD thesis at Karolinska Institute, Sweden, 2006.
Invited lectures at Bioscience 2005 (the Annual National meeting of the Biochemical Society), Cardiff University (2006), Merck Research Labs, Boston (2006) and Karolinska Institute (2006).
Reviewed for the following funding organizations: The Medical Research Council (2004-present), Science Foundation Ireland, (2005-present), the Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research (2006), the Alzheimer’s Society and Wellcome Trust.
Member of the organising committee for a meeting entitled ‘Molecular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration’ (Biochem. Soc and SFI) University College Dublin, March 2005.
Biochemical Society Theme Panel Member 2003-present.
Reviewed for J. Neurochemistry and British Journal of Pharmacology.
Societies
Member of the Biochemical Society, British Neuroscience Association and the Alzheimer’s Society.
Selected Original publications (out of 23 peer-reviewed, 23 meetings abstracts and 4 book chapters)
Johnston, J.A., Liu, W.W, Coulson, D.R., Todd, S., Murphy, S., Brennan, S., Foy, C.J., Craig, D., Irvine G.B. and Passmore, A.P. Platelet b-secretase activity is increased in Alzheimer’s disease
Neurobiol of Aging (In Press).
Johnston, J.A., Liu, W.W., Todd, S.A., Coulson, D.T.R., Murphy, S., Irvine, G.B., Passmore, A.P. Expression and activity of b-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme in Alzheimer’s disease.
Biochem. Soc. Trans. (2005) 33(5), 1096-1100.
Gosal, D., Ross, O.A., Wiley, J., Irvine, G.B., Johnston, J.A., Toft, M., Mata, I.F., Kachergus, J., Hulihan, M., Taylor, J.P., Lincoln, S.J., Farrer, M.J., Lynch, T.& Gibson, J.M. Clinical traits of LRRK2 - associated Parkinson’s disease in Ireland: A link between the familial and idiopathic PD.
Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, (2005) 11(6), 349-352
Griffin R.J., Moloney A., Kelliher M., Johnston J.A., Ravid R., Dockery P., O' Connor R. and O' Neill C. Activation of Akt/PKB,increased phosphorylation of Akt substrates, and loss and altered distributon of Akt and PTEN are features of Alzheimer's disease pathology J. Neurochem. (2005) 93(1), 105-117.
Flood, F., Murphy, S., Cowburn, R.F., Lannfelt, L., Walker, B., and *Johnston, J.A. Proteasome-mediated effects on amyloid precursor protein processing at the g-secretase site Biochem. J. (2005) 385:2, 545-550.
Flood F.M., Sundstrom E., Samuelsson, E-B., Wiehager B., Seiger, Å, Johnston J.A. and Cowburn R.F. Presenilin-1 expression during induced differentiation of the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line. Neurochem. Int. (2004) 44, 487–496
Johnston J.A., Jensen, M., Lannfelt, L., Walker, B. and Williams, C.H. Inhibition of Prolylendopeptidase does not affect g-secretase processing of amyloid precursor protein. Neuroscience Letters (1999) 277 (1), 33-36.
Racchi M., Johnston J.A., Flood F.M., Cowburn R.F. and Govoni S. Amyloid precursor protein metabolism in fibroblasts from individuals with one, two or three copies of the APP gene. Biochem. J. (1999) 338, 777-782.
Reznik-Wolf H, Machado J, Haroutunian V, DeMarco L, Walter GF, Goldman B, Davidson M, Johnston J.A., Lannfelt L., Dani S.U. and Friedman E. Somatic mutation analysis of the APP and presenilin 1 and 2 genes in Alzheimer's disease brains. J Neurogenetics (1998) 12, 55-65.
Johnston J.A., Lannfelt L., Wiehager B., O'Neill C. and Cowburn R.F. Amyloid precursor protein heat shock response in lymphoblastoid cell lines bearing Presenilin-1 mutations. BBA (1997) 1362, 183-92
Flood F.M., Cowburn R.F. and Johnston J.A. Presenilin-1, amyloid precursor protein and amyloid precursor-like protein 2 mRNA levels in human superior frontal cortex during aging. Neurosci. Letts. (1997) 235, 17-20
Johnston J.A., Norgren S., Ravid R., Wasco, W., Winblad, B., Lannfelt L. and Cowburn R.F. Quantification of APP and APLP2 mRNA in APOE genotyped Alzheimer's disease brains.
Molecular Brain Research, (1996) 43, 85-95.
Clark, R.F., Hutton, M., Fuldner, R., Froehlich, S., Karran, E., Talbot, C., Crook, R., Lendon, C., Prihar, G., He, C., Korenblat, K., Martinez, A., Wragg, M., Busfield, F., Behrens, M.I., Myers, A., Norton, J., Morris, J., Mehta, N., Pearson, C., Lincoln, S., Baker, M., Duff, K., Zehr, C., Houlden, H., Ruiz, A., Ossa, J., Lopera, F., Arcos, M., Madrigal, L., Collinge, J., Humphreys, C., Asworth, T., Sarner, S., Cline, R., Philips, C., Venter, C., Forsell, L., Axelman, K., Lilius, L., Johnston, J., Cowburn, R., Viitanen, M., Winblad, B., Kosik, K., Haltia, M., Poyhonen, M., Dickson, D., Mann, D., Neary, D., Snowden, J., Lannfelt, L., Rossor, M., Roberts, G.W., Adams, M., Hardy, J. and Goate, A. The structure of the chromosome 14 Alzheimer's disease gene, S182, and identification of six novel mutations in early onset Alzheimer's disease. Nature Genetics (1995) 11, 219-222.
Citron M., Vigo-Pelfrey C., Teplow D B., Miller C., Schenk D., Venizelos N., Johnston J., Winblad B., Lannfelt L. and Selkoe D J. Excessive production of amyloid b-peptide by peripheral cells of symptomatic and presymptomatic patients carrying the Swedish familial Alzheimer's disease mutation.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1994) 91, 11993-11997.
Johnston J. A., Cowburn R F., Norgren S., Wiehager B., Venizelos N., Winblad B., Vigo-Pelfrey C., Schenk D., Lannfelt L. and O'Neill C. Increased b-amyloid release and levels of amyloid precursor protein (APP) in fibroblast cell lines from family members with the Swedish Alzheimer's disease APP670/671 mutation. FEBS Letters (1994) 354, 274-278.