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Stephen Johnston to lead Center for Innovations in Medicine

While many cancer research programs focus heavily on specific types of the disease, Stephen Albert Johnston hopes to find a universal cure that will be effective against virtually any type of cancer.

Johnston, a pre-eminent scientist whose work spans a broad range of genetic and medical research, has been recruited to head a new Center for Innovations in Medicine within the Biodesign Institute at ASU.

Johnston joins ASU from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) where he was professor of internal medicine and microbiology and held the Eugene Tragus Chair in Cardiology. He is currently relocating from Dallas to Arizona. At UTSW, Johnston directed the Center for Biodmedical Inventions, which he founded with three colleagues in 1998. This center was among the first in the world to bring a broad group of disciplines together to invent solutions to basic problems in medicine. Since its establishment in 1998, the Center for Biomedical Inventions in Dallas has generated over $51 million in grants, published over 200 publications in leading research journals, has been granted 15 patents and has formed two spinout companies.

“Dr. Johnston is able to cross seamlessly into multiple areas of science, and that has enabled him to make groundbreaking discoveries,” says George Poste, director of the Biodesign Institute. “Few scientists have displayed the level of novelty in discovery that Johnston has accomplished. He has pioneered new ways to identify virulent genes in dangerous microorganisms, to transfer genes into cells to improve vaccine production and to identify new ways to immunize against disease.”

The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University

The new Center for Innovations in Medicine will expand on the advances Johnston made at the Center for Biomedical Inventions, incorporating ASU’s strengths in engineering and bioinformatics. The center’s initial areas of emphasis will be on biosignature diagnostics, cell-targeting, vaccine technologies and cancer diagnosis and treatment. “We offer a place where biologists and chemists, clinicians and scientists can come together to invent and implement fundamental solutions to problems in medicine,” said Johnston.

“We offer a place where biologists and chemists, clinicians and scientists can come together to invent and implement fundamental solutions to problems in medicine,” Johnston says.

One area where Johnston ’s inventive techniques are evident is in his approach to cancer. By identifying genetic mutations in various cancers, Johnston and his team believe they can create a system for early detection and treatment of all cancers. They also are in the early stages of exploring the idea of a vaccine that would prevent cancer.

“Because cancers manifest themselves so differently, the traditional thinking has been to address each as a separate disease,” Johnston says.

He explained that recent advances in molecular medicine and genetics holds promise for attacking or preventing cancerous cell development at a much earlier stage.

“This dramatically changes the ways in which we can approach the problem,” he says.

Johnston ’s innovative approaches and his multidisciplinary background in molecular biology, genetics and biomedical engineering were key reasons that the Biodesign Institute recruited him, Poste says. The institute also looks for research that will complement existing areas of strength to become increasingly competitive in the global biotech arena.

Johnston has achieved international recognition in the area of vaccine design, with major funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. He was co-inventor of the “gene gun,” and he devised methods for detecting the immunizing proteins in virulent bacteria and viruses that are likely to be the best vaccine molecules for triggering immunity to infection. This builds on two other world-class research teams at the institute in the area of infectious diseases and vaccines. These teams are led by Roy Curtiss and Charles Arntzen , both of whom are members of the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

The institute’s Center for Innovations in Medicine also will include research into new technologies. In addition to exploring different delivery mechanisms for vaccines, the center hopes to develop biosignature technology for widespread detection of pre-symptomatic signs of disease. Johnston references this as the “Doc-in-a-Box” project.

The goal is to create a simple instrument that could be in everyone’s home that would analyze your health every day and compare it to all previous readings, allowing detection of illness before the onset of symptoms.

In citing reasons for his decision to come to the Biodesign Institute, Johnston says: “I was initially attracted because I believe advances in medicine will increasingly demand contribution from engineering and computing. ASU excels in these areas. When I began delving deeper, I found that ASU and the Biodesign Institute are well in front of the other universities in recognizing the importance of interdisciplinary science and providing the organizational structure and facilities to facilitate its translation into actual uses that will benefit people.”

The Biodesign Institute at ASU integrates research in diverse disciplines including biology, engineering, medicine, physics, information technology and cognitive science to accelerate discoveries into beneficial uses. The institute is pursuing innovations in health care, national security and environmental sustainability. For information, visit (www.biodesign.asu.edu) or call (480) 727-8322.

By Kimberly Ovitt. Ovitt, with the Biodesign Institute at ASU, can be reached at (480) 727-8688 or (kimberly.ovitt@asu.edu).