Education 

Post-Doc, Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 2024 
Ph.D., Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, 2016 
M.S., Molecular and Structural Biochemistry, NC State, 2012 
B.S., Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina Asheville, 2009

Honors and Awards 

2024 AACR-John Kincade Scholarship (Scholar-in-Training), AACR 
2022 Translational Cancer Research for Basic Scientists, AACR 
2017 American Cancer Society Fellowship, ACS 
2016 Scholarship to 21st Century Mouse Genetics, Jackson Laboratories 
2009 Distinction in Biology, University of North Carolina Asheville  

Research Interests

Research Areas: Structural Biology and Biochemistry: Protein chemistry, X-ray crystallography, structural enzymology, molecular dynamics simulations, molecular modeling, mammalian cell culture, genetically engineered mouse models.  
 
The Johnson lab is primarily interested in mechanisms of small GTPase function in disease, with a particular emphasis on cancer. However, we invite collaboration and communication with any lab inside and outside the University of South Carolina community interested in protein chemistry and structural biology. Please visit our webpage for more information. 
 

Selected Publications 

Johnson CW, Fetics SK, Davis KP, Rodrigues JA, Mattos C. Allosteric site variants affect GTP hydrolysis on Ras. Protein Sci. 2023 Aug 24:e4767. doi: 10.1002/pro.4767. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37615343. 

Johnson CW*, Burkhart DL*, Haigis KM, Classification of K-RAS activating mutations and the implications for therapeutic intervention. Cancer Discov. 2022 Apr 1;12(4):913-923. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-22-0035. PMID: 35373279; PMCID: PMC8988514.

Johnson CW, Seo H-S, Terrell EM, Yang M-H, KleinJan F, Gebregiworgis T, Gasmi-Seabrook GMC, Geffken EA, Lakhani J, Song K, Bashyal P, Popow O, Paulo JA, Liu A, Mattos C, Marshall CB, Ikura M, Morrison DK, Dhe-Paganon S, Haigis KM, Regulation of GTPase function by autophosphorylation. Mol Cell. 2022 Mar 3;82(5):950-968.e14. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2022.02.011. Epub 2022 Feb 23. PMID: 35202574; PMCID: PMC8986090. 

Johnson CW*, Lin YJ*, Reid D, Parker J, Pavlopoulos S, Dischinger P, Graveel C, Aguirre AJ, Steensma M, Haigis KM, Mattos C. Isoform-Specific Destabilization of the Active Site Reveals a Molecular Mechanism of Intrinsic Activation of KRas G13D. Cell Rep. 2019 Aug 6;28(6):1538-1550.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.07.026. PMID: 31390567; PMCID: PMC6709685. 

Johnson CW*, Reid D*, Parker JA, Salter S, Knihtila R, Kuzmic P, Mattos C. The small GTPases K-Ras, N-Ras, and H-Ras have distinct biochemical properties determined by allosteric effects. J Biol Chem. 2017 Aug 4;292(31):12981-12993. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M117.778886. Epub 2017 Jun 19. PMID: 28630043; PMCID: PMC5546037. (Selected for reprint in a special virtual issue: Cancer: https://www.jbc.org/cancer). 

Johnson CW, Buhrman G, Ting PY, Colicelli J, Mattos C. Expression, purification, crystallization and X-ray data collection for RAS and its mutants. Data Brief. 2015 Dec 17;6:423-7. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2015.12.007. PMID: 26866052; PMCID: PMC4710794.