Assistant professor and CPRIT Scholar at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, starting Jan 2022. Discovery and directed evolution of natural products 🦠

Houston TX; Previously Toronto
Joined July 2020
Happy to finally be announcing that I’ll be joining the Baylor College of Medicine as an assistant professor and CRPIT scholar starting January 2022!
16
2
3
100
Well, it took a little longer than expected, but we're happy to share our lab's first paper. Thanks to the reviewers and editors at JACS for sticking with us through a surprisingly weird story šŸ˜…. Science never changes. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jac…
1
1
1
13
845
It's not necessarily science, but I'm exposed through my better half. Kyla Scanlon is the best finance follow out there.
2
A new paper from Kim Lewis identified a natural product Evybactin targeting DNA gyrase and killing Mycobacterium tuberculosis via a selective transport mechanism. Free to read link at rdcu.be/cUmNn
1
27
4
103
New LCMS just dropped.
13
First Johnston lab outing! Great time with the team, plus I learned I can't take group selfies AND look normal. Maybe one day.
9
Me - a new PI with a freezer already full of bacterial extracts
1
Hey aspiring PIs! Looking for a Prof position that comes with a cool neighbour? My department is hiring ! Come see everything Baylor, Houston, and the Texas Med Centre have to offer! (spoiler: it's a lot) nature.com/naturecareers/job…
Taste the Streptomyces rainbow (but really you probably shouldn't even if it's BSL1... but maybe?)
4
5
3
75
There are two types of researchers. @Dr_Meming @PhDVoice @OpenAcademics #Memes #AcademicChatter
41
189
82
1,765
Rolf Müller remains the king of microbial natural products IMO. Another paper on a cool new antibacterial NP from Myxobacteria. Really looking forward to learning the target for this one!
1
9
Chad Johnston retweeted
Excited to share our most recent work in @NatureComms, a collaboration with @NUSynBio labs @DTElab @jewettlab_NU @monicagroup and the Mangan lab. We set out to investigate the role of bacterial organelle morphology on encapsulated pathway performance doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-3… (1/9)
3
12
2
73
Work by @simonsnitz, @alperlab, Andy Ellington & colleagues evolves a general transcription factor into specific biosensors for various alkaloids, enabling streamlined production of tetrahydropapaverine. Free to read link at rdcu.be/cRb3T
Chad Johnston retweeted
Are you interested in host-microbe interactions and women's health? We're hiring a full-time research technician to work with us in balmy Houston. We have fun people, cool science, and air conditioning! @BCMFromtheLabs #Houston #GraduateJobs jobs.bcm.edu/job/Houston-Res…
1
15
33
Hey you! Yeah, you in the corner! are you interested in light perception? Then let me borrow your attention to talk about our new publication in @CurrentBiology about light sensing in Fungi and how we show that the fungal ancestor could sense light! šŸ‘‡ cell.com/current-biology/ful…
5
38
5
128
Hey Internet! @AhmedHBadran and I have released a review on natural products (and non-natural, if that's your thing) that function as precision antibiotics - something both our labs will be exploring in the next few years. Link! authors.elsevier.com/a/1fA8A…
2
6
Chad Johnston retweeted
Interested in new biosynthetic strategies to make toxic small molecules? Here you go, our work on cyanobacterin biosynthesis now out @nchembio! Congrats to @pmdagostino, coauthors and collaborators @biomicat! Thanks @tudresden_de @TUD_Science, our home! nature.com/articles/s41589-0… – at Saarbrücken, Germany
9
17
1
85
We are hiring !! Looking for a motivated and enthusiastic research technician to join our lab. We study the link between the gut microbiome and immune dysregulation. Check out the full details jobs.bcm.edu/job-invite/1136…
Twitter, lend me your re-Tweets! Our lab is looking for a research technician in bacterial molecular & synthetic biology🦠. If you're finishing your BSc and wanted to try your hand at evolving antibiotics, we're the lab for you! jobs.bcm.edu/job/Houston-Res…
7
6