Biology Department Faculty

Welkin Johnson

Professor

Photo of Welkin Johnson

Welkin Johnson

Ph.D.

Contact

Higgins Hall 545B

Telephone: 617-552-4223

Email: welkin.johnson@bc.edu

ORCID

Education

  • Ph.D., Tufts University School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences

Research Interests

Retroviruses; Primate lentiviruses (HIV and SIV); Co-evolution of viruses and their hosts.

Lab Website

Department

Biology

Research

Work in our laboratory combines traditional, molecular virology with evolutionary genetics, in order to study how viruses adapt to their hosts. Our goal is to understand how virus evolution is influenced by genetic variation both within host populations (polymorphism) and between host species (divergence). Current projects in the laboratory focus on retroviruses, specifically the lentiviruses of humans and their primate relatives (the human and simian immunodeficiency viruses 鈥� HIV and SIV). Among other things, we are interested in the interactions between these viruses and host genes that act as genetic barriers to cross-species transmission (also known as restriction factors), and in understanding how viruses adapt to new genetic environments once a species barrier has been breeched. We are also interested in how lentiviruses adapt within individuals, particularly in response to shifting selective pressures imposed by virus-specific polyclonal antibody responses.

Selected Publications

  • Henzy JE, Gifford RJ, Kenaley CP, Johnson WE. . 2016. Mol Biol Evol (2017) 34(3): 634-639.
  • Diehl WE, Patel N, Halm K, Johnson WE. . eLIFE. 2016 Mar 8; 5. pii: e12704. doi: 10.7554/eLife.12704. PubMed PMID:26952212.
  • McCarthy KR, Kirmaier A, Autissier P, Johnson, WE. 2015. . PLoS Pathogens 11(8):e1005085.
  • Johnson WE. . 2015. Annual Reviews in Virology 2:135-159.
  • McCarthy KR, Johnson WE. . PLoS Pathog. 2014 Apr 17;10(4):e1004017. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004017. eCollection 2014 Apr. Review. PubMed PMID: 24743473; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3990706.
  • Krupp, A., McCarthy, K.R., Ooms, M., Letko, M., Morgan, J.S., Simon, V., Johnson, W.E. 2013. . PLoS Pathogens 9(10):e1003641.
  • McCarthy, K.R., Schmidt, A.G., Kirmaier, A., Wyand, A.L., Newman, R.M., Johnson, W.E. 2013. . PLoS Pathogens 9(5): e1003352.
  • Johnson, W.E. 2013. . Chapter in Intrinsic Immunity (B. Cullen, ed.), Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology 371, pages 123-151.
  • Henzy, J.E. and Johnson, W.E. 2013. . Philosophical Trans. Of the Royal Society B. 368(1626):20120506.
  • Kirmaier, A., Wu, F., Newman, R.M., Hall, L.R., Morgan, J.S., O鈥機onnor, S., Marx, P.A., Meythaler, M., Goldstein, S., Buckler-White, A., Kaur, A., Hirsch, V., Johnson, W.E. 2010. . PLoS Biology 8(8):e1000462.
  • Johnson, W.E. . 2010. PLoS Genetics 6(11):e1001210.
  • Johnson, W.E. 2008. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105:20051-20052.
  • Newman, R.M., Hall, L., Kirmaier, A., Pozzi, L., Pery, E., Farzan, M., O鈥橬eil, S.P., Johnson, W.E. 2008. . PLoS Pathogens 4(2):e1000003.
  • Newman, R.M., Hall, L.R., Connole, M., Chen, G-L, Yuste, E., Diehl, W., Hunter, E., Kaur, A., Miller, G., Johnson, W.E. 2006. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103(50):19134-19139.
  • Johnson, W.E. and Coffin, J.M. 1999. . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96(18):10254-60.
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