Professor Dr. Kenneth Johnson

Biography

Kenneth Johnson received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin in 1975 and subsequently completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Chicago. He joined the University of Texas at Austin in 1998 after serving as the Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry at Penn State University. He holds the Roger J. Williams Centennial Professorship in Biochemistry and is a member of the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Biochemistry, and the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. His research focuses on the mechanistic basis of DNA polymerase selectivity and the effectiveness versus toxicity of nucleoside analogs used to treat HIV infections. Johnson's lab applies state-of-the-art kinetic methods to study the enzyme specificity of HIV reverse transcriptase and mitochondrial DNA polymerase. He has developed innovative approaches to address complex kinetic and structural biology challenges, and his work has implications for understanding diseases related to mitochondrial DNA.

Research Interests