Dr. Jethro Johnson

Biography

Jethro Johnson is an accomplished researcher currently affiliated with the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on the microbiome and its interactions with the host, employing multi-omic computational approaches to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in health and disease. Johnson completed his PhD in nutritional ecology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where he studied the effects of temperature on microbially-mediated digestion in ectothermic herbivores. After earning his doctorate, he transitioned to computational genomics, receiving a fellowship from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and working alongside renowned researchers such as Professor Chris Ponting and Dr. Andreas Heger in the MRC Functional Genomics Unit in Oxford. Subsequently, he conducted postdoctoral research at the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Connecticut, USA, where he utilized next-generation sequencing and computational approaches to characterize the human microbiome, with a specific focus on its role in metabolic diseases, particularly during his involvement in the NIH Integrative Human Microbiome Project. In 2020, Johnson established his own research group at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology and has taken on the role of Deputy Director of the Oxford Centre for Microbiome Studies, contributing significantly to advancing the field of microbiome research.

Research Interests