Researchers

Alan L. Johnson, Ph.D.

Alan L. Johnson, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Biological Sciences

Contact Information

Biography

Professor Johnson received his B.A. degree in zoology in 1972 and his M.S. in zoology in 1975, both from the University of Vermont at Burlington. He earned his Ph.D. degree in physiology in 1979 from Cornell University. He conducted postdoctoral research from 1978 to 1981 at Cornell University. He joined the faculty at Rutgers University in 1981, becoming professor in 1990. He moved to the University of Notre Dame in 1993. Professor Johnson was the recipient of the 1993 Rutgers University Research Excellence Award, and the 2004 Shilts/Leonard Teaching Award for the College of Science at Notre Dame. He has served on various governmental study section panels and on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. He recently served as Program Chair for the 2005 Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) Annual Meetings in Quebec City, Canada.

Research Interests

Professor Johnson's interests are in ovarian cancer, apoptosis (programmed cell death), and ovarian follicle growth, selection and differentiation. His research focuses on enhancing the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic treatment and understanding the cellular mechanisms related to chemotherapeutic resistance in ovarian cancers. His research group is also investigating the effectiveness of the cytokine, Tumor Necrosis Factor-Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand (TRAIL), as an agent to induce apoptosis in ovarian surface epithelial and granulosa tumor cell lines, and studying the endocrine, cellular, and molecular mechanisms involved in the loss of vertebrate ovarian follicles (follicle atresia) via apoptosis.

Publications

Bridgham JT, Johnson AL. Alternatively spliced variants of Gallus gallus TNFRSF23 are expressed in the ovary and differentially regulated by several cell signaling pathways. Biol Reprod 2004; 70: 972-979. link

Bridgham JT, Wilder JA, Hollocher H, Johnson AL. All in the family: Evolutionary and functional relationships among death receptors. Cell Death & Differentiation 2003; 10: 19-25. link

Johnson AL, Ratajczak C, Haugen MJ, Liu HK, Woods DC. Tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) expression and activity in hen granulosa cells. Reproduction 2007; 133: 609-616. link

Woods DC, Liu HK, Nishi Y, Yanase T, Johnson AL. Inhibition of proteosome activity sensitizes human granulosa tumor cells to TRAIL-induced cell death. Cancer Letters 2008; 260: 20-27. link

Woods DC, Alvarez C, Johnson AL. Cisplatin-mediated sensitivity to TRAIL-induced cell death in human granulosa tumor cells. Gynecol. Oncology 2008; 108: 632-640. link

Johnson AL, Haugen MJ, Woods DC. Role for Inhibitor of Differentiation/DNA binding (Id) proteins in granulosa cell differentiation. Endocrinology 2008, in press.

Cells