Brittany Johnson earned her BSc in Zoology from Oregon State University, followed by a DVM from Ross University and clinical training at Cornell University. In 2023, Dr Johnson was awarded an MRCVS. Dr Johnson practiced veterinary medicine in the US as a small animal veterinarian, ER vet, and, ultimately, as an independent business owner (Evergreen Veterinary Relief Services) providing contracted locum/relief veterinary care coverages at small animal, mixed, and ER practices, while contributing to biomedical research in an ad hoc/contracted manner. Outside of lab, Brittany continues to provide locum/relief clinical services for small animal veterinary hospitals around the UK and the US.

Her current research includes characterising cytokine/chemokine expression under various conditions in iPSC-derived mitochondrial disease neurones, elucidating the signalling pathways driving peripheral immune cell migration into mitochondrial disease brain lesions, and performing qPCR for gene expression in murine brain stems.

Michael earned his BSc in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Washington in 2022. Michael relocated to the UK with the Johnson Laboratory in 2023. His primary areas of research expertise are primary cell culture, live cell assays, and biochemical analyses, with his work focused on probing the interactions between mitochondria and volatile anaesthetics.

Liza earned an undergraduate degree in BSc (Hons) Pharmacology (2017) and Masters in Neuroscience (2018) at Newcastle University. She was awarded a Newcastle University Overseas Research Scholarship (NU-ORS) to pursue her PhD in Biosciences at the Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research, which occurred between 2018 and 2022. In 2022, Liza started a post-doc under the supervision of Professor Grainne Gorman. Between January and April 2024, she completed a sabbatical placement at K. G. Jebsen Center for Parkinson's Disease, Neuro-Sys Med Center, at the University of Bergen under the supervision of Professor Charalampos Tzoulis. This international laboratory placement was funded by EMBO Scientific Exchange Grant scheme.

Liza joined our laboratory in May 2024. She was recently awarded a Mito Foundation Fellowship, which will commence in September 2024.

Liza’s main research interest is the interplay between inflammation and neurodegeneration in the context of mitochondrial dysfunction, especially genetically determined primary mitochondrial diseases, for which currently there is no disease-modifying therapy or cure. Unravelling specific immune pathways which are at play in this group of disorders could provide access to already-existing therapeutics that modify immune activation. Since mitochondrial dysfunction is observed in many other neurodegenerative disorders such as epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, findings from primary mitochondrial disease research could therefore provide clues to potentially overlapping mechanisms and potential therapeutic avenues in other neurological disorders.

Links to publications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=OLKHOVA+EA

Allison is a molecular biologist with expertise and interest in gene therapy approaches to treating genetic disorders. She leads the Johnson Laboratory Seattle based team.

Allison has a longstanding interest in rare pediatric diseases. She earned her PhD in pathobiology from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where she did her dissertation research on developing novel models and testing new therapies in an aggressive subtype of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. Following graduate school, Allison began postdoctoral work researching genetic mitochondrial disease. Prior to joining SCRI, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). At OHSU she worked on gene therapy strategies for treating Aifm1-associated mitochondrial disease. Since she joined SCRI in 2022, Allison’s projects are aimed at defining the precise immune cell populations involved in driving CNS lesion formation in Leigh syndrome and the role of key inflammatory factors in disease. Her longer-term scientific goals are to identify the immune pathways critical to disease onset and progression in Leigh syndrome. This work will also inform development of gene therapies in the setting of mitochondrial disease. When not in the lab, Allison enjoys, playing the oboe, fiber arts, reading fantasy and science fiction novels, and playing with her pet parrot, Alexander Birdilton.

Vivian is a UW graduate with a BSc in Chemistry and BA in Biochemistry. She relocated to Newcastle with the Johnson laboratory in 2023 as a Senior Technician. She has returned to Seattle to pursue a Masters in Applied Chemical Sciences and Technologies in Fall 2024 at UW and is currently contributing to the Seattle research group. Her future goals are to become a forensic scientist postgrad.

Ashley is a graduate from the University of Washington Foster School of Business with a BA in Business Administration. Her ultimate goal is to attend medical school with dreams of becoming a physician. When not in the lab, you can catch her working as a CNA at Seattle Children's Hospital or spending time fishing.

Kira is a molecular biologist with experience in developmental biology and anesthesia. One of Kira’s current projects is aimed at probing the impact of volatile anesthetics on mitochondrial function and calcium signaling in astrocytes, a key type of brain support cell. Prior work in the Morgan/Sedensky laboratory revealed that astrocyte mitochondrial function is important in arousal (‘waking up’) from anesthesia. In addition, Kira is working to define the impact of volatile anesthetic exposure on cognitive function in the setting of aging and determine the role of immune activation in mediating detrimental effects of anesthesia in old animals.

Bernhard is a biochemist and molecular biologist with a strong background in physiology, especially in energy metabolism. Bernhard has extensive experience, earning his PhD in Botany at the University of Bonn, Germany, in 1994. Bernhard’s primary research interest is how the function of mitochondria relates to disease progression in mitochondrial disease. In addition to extensive biochemistry experience, Bernhard is experienced with C. elegans, mouse, and cell culture models. Bernhard has recently implemented a panel of mitochondrial function assays which Seattle Children’s Hospital now offers as a diagnostic service.

Bernhard continues to work with the Johnson Laboratory through his role in the Clinical Diagnostics team at Seattle Children’s.

Rebecca was a graduate student in the M3D program, earning her PhD in 2022. Her primary research focused on defining the metabolic consequences of mitochondrial complex I dysfunction and mTOR inhibition in sex, genotype, and age specific manner. Her work has included ex vivo stable isotope metabolic flux to assess the metabolic fates of glucose and glutamine; physiologic assays to define insulin sensitivity, glucose clearance, and gluconeogenic capacity; and intervention studies assessing the impact of dietary methods for altering metabolism on disease and survival in the Ndufs4(KO) mouse model of Leigh syndrome. She has gone on to a post-doc at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Rina worked as the Johnson lab manager in the US and during the first year in the UK.

John is a biologist with experience in the basic biology of anesthesia and mouse models of genetic mitochondrial disease. John is currently applying for graduate programs, and is interested in studying disease pathogenesis in genetic diseases. John’s current project is aimed at understanding the metabolic changes and pathogenesis that result from exposure to volatile anesthetics in mitochondrial disease. He is also aiding in studying the effects of volatile anesthetics on mitochondrial function in astrocytes

Yihan was an undergraduate in Biochemistry at UW, graduating in 2022. Yihan is now in a masters program, with the longer-term goal of attending graduate school and pursuing a career in research.

Ria is a high school senior from Eastside Preparatory School. At school, she is the captain of the Speech and Debate team and partakes enthusiastically in all things biology, neuroscience, chemistry, history, ethics, politics, and literature. She is also an advocate for preventing sex trafficking and sexual assault through her work as an elected WA Youth Legislative representative in the state government and school system. Ria has completed a science internship at the UC Irvine Pathak Lab, where she researched brain organogenesis with iPSCs, learned the functions of Neural Stem Cells, and used neuroimaging to analyze elusive brain disorders. For her work on Patch Clamp Analysis and Leak Subtraction there, she wrote two lab protocols that are currently being used by lab members. Additionally, she has worked at the UW Center for Neurotechnology in the Restorative Technologies Lab to analyze laminin in rostral and caudal cross-sections of the spines of optogenetically-modified mice. Her work has been acknowledged in an upcoming CNT publication. Ria has also worked as a high school intern at a neurologist’s office to better understand the diagnostic and clinical treatment aspects of neurological disorders. If she isn’t busy enjoying her time at labs, advocating for women’s rights, or drowning in schoolwork, she loves to sing (Hindustani Classical), dance (Kathak), write free-verse poems, read philosophy, fantasy, or sci-fi, and watch Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Undergraduate researcher

Senior in Biochemistry with a double minor in global health and classical studies.goes here

Senior in Microbiology

UW Student in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology