Laura A. Johnston PhD

Laura Johnston is Professor of Genetics & Development at Columbia University Medical Center in New York and uses Drosophila as a model system to study the dynamics of tissue growth and size control in development, during regeneration, and in models of cancer. Since establishing her lab in 2000, her studies have a had a particular emphasis on the role of MYC in cooperative and competitive cell behavior. At CUMC, Laura is a member of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative. She serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards for the journals Development and Royal Society Open Science and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Rita Allen Foundation. Laura is active in the greater scientific community and is a past President of the Drosophila Board of Directors, a national organization dedicated to promoting scholarly science in Drosophila research.