Scripps Research Professor Emeritus John Johnson, PhD, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences—one of the highest honors bestowed upon scientists. According to the Academy, members are chosen “in recognition of their distinguished and sustained achievements in original research.”
“Becoming a member of the Academy is a great honor for me and the 70 graduate students and postdocs who have worked in my lab since 1978, as well as numerous collaborators at Scripps and around the world,” says Johnson, who is also the Eldon R. Strahm Professor of Structural Virology in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology.
The organization shares my commitment to helping the world through science.”
John Johnson, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Scripps Research
Johnson earned his PhD in physical and inorganic chemistry from Iowa State University in 1972 and spent 23 years at Purdue University before moving to The Scripps Research Institute (now known as Scripps Research) in 1995. His laboratory investigates a range of viruses —including those that infect bacteria, insects, and plants—and has published several related studies. Much of his work has used X-ray crystallography and, more recently, cryo-electron microscopy to solve the structures of intact complex virus particles.
During his tenure, Johnson published the first reports of icosahedral particles as building blocks for organic chemistry, bridging the field of chemistry with biology. And while combining chemistry with molecular genetics, he found a way to attach a series of molecules to the surface of a virus, thereby imbuing the virus with the properties of those molecules. This method is applicable to many scientific fields, including materials science, medicine, and molecular electronics. It can be used to immobilize large molecules—even entire proteins—on the surface of a virus. Even more, the technique was applied to build a circuit on the surface of a virus that uses chemical “nanowires.” His lab also created the first atomic models of an insect virus, a dsDNA bacteriophage, and an archaeal virus that lives in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park.
For his contributions to science, Johnson has been awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award by the American Chemical Society-San Diego. Johnson also served as a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors for the National Cancer Institute as well as the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and on the board of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of General VirologyThe Journal of Molecular BiologyThe Journal of Molecular Recognition, Structure and Virology.
Established by an Act of Congress signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, the National Academy of Sciences has been in existence since 1863. As advisors to the nation, members of the Academy are required to provide scientific guidance to any US government agency “when called upon.” “
With Johnson’s election, the Scripps Research faculty now has 30 members in the National Academies of Sciences, Medicine and Engineering.
