Dr. Daniel Johnston

• Toll-like receptor signalling and the control of intestinal barrier function in, Methods in Molecular Biology, 2016, [Johnston, D.G.W. and Corr, S.C.]Book Chapter, 2016, URL
• Johnston DGW, Kearney J, ZasÅ'ona Z, Williams MA, O'Neill LAJ, Corr SC., MicroRNA-21 Limits Uptake of Listeria monocytogenes by Macrophages to Reduce the Intracellular Niche and Control Infection., Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology, 7, 2017, p201Journal Article, 2017, DOI , TARA - Full Text
• Daniel G.W. Johnston, Christoph A. Thaiss, Raul Cabrera-Rubio, Michelle A. Williams, Paul D. Cotter, Eran Elinav, Luke A.J. O'Neill, Sinéad C. Corr, Loss of microRNA-21 influences the gut microbiota causing reduced susceptibility in a murine model of colitis., Journal of Crohns and Colitis, 12, (7), 2018, p835-Journal Article, 2018, DOI , TARA - Full Text
• Hackett, E.E., Charles-Messance, H., O'Leary, S.M., Gleeson, L.E., Muñoz-Wolf, N., Case, S., Wedderburn, A., Johnston, D.G.W., Williams, M.A., Smyth, A., Ouimet, M., Moore, K.J., Lavelle, E.C., Corr, S.C., Gordon, S.V., Keane, J., Sheedy, F.J., Mycobacterium tuberculosis Limits Host Glycolysis and IL-1ß by Restriction of PFK-M via MicroRNA-21, Cell Reports, 30, (1), 2020, p124-136.e4Journal Article, 2020, DOI , TARA - Full Text
• Daniel Johnston, Alfred I. Tauber, Immunity: The Evolution of an Idea (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 328 pages. ISBN: 9780190651244. Hardcover: $78.00, Paperback $39.95., Politics and the Life Sciences, 38, (1), 2019, p103--105Journal Article, 2019, DOI
• Schulthess J, Pandey S, Capitani M, Rue-Albrecht KC, Arnold I, Franchini F, Chomka A, Ilott NE, Johnston DGW, Pires E, McCullagh J, Sansom SN, Powrie F, The Short Chain Fatty Acid Butyrate Imprints an Antimicrobial Program in Macrophages., Immunity, 2019Journal Article, 2019, DOI
• Daniel G.W. Johnston, Brian Kirby, Desmond J. Tobin, Hidradenitis suppurativa: A folliculotropic disease of innate immune barrier dysfunction?, Experimental Dermatology, 2021Journal Article, 2021, DOI
• Immunotherapy Advances, Oxford University Press, [eds.], 2021-2027Editorial Board, 2021
• Johnston, DGW and Hambly, R and Kearney, N and Tobin, DJ and Kirby, B, A preliminary study of soluble CD14 levels in the serum of patients with hidradenitis suppurativa as a marker of ?leaky gut? [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review], HRB Open Research, 5, (68), 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• Daniel Johnston, A role for microRNA-21 in the regulation of gastrointestinal health and disease, Trinity College Dublin, 2017Thesis, 2017, URL
• Johnston, Daniel G. W., Hambly, Roisin, Kearney, Niamh, Tobin, Desmond J., Kirby, Brian, Cell"free DNA is elevated in the serum of patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, The Journal of Dermatology, 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• O'Donohoe, S and Leahy, C and Johnston, DGW and Tobin, DJ, ANALYSIS OF INFLAMMASOME PROTEIN EXPRESSION IN HIDRADENITIS SUPPURATIVA PATIENT TISSUE, IRISH JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, 191, (SUPPL 1), 2022, ppS13--S14Conference Paper, 2022
• Buruno, H and Johnston, D and Tobin, DJ, CAN THE COLLAPSE OF THE SCALP HAIR FOLLICLE PIGMENTARY UNIT WITH AGE (CANITIES) PROVIDE INSIGHTS INTO HOW MELANOCYTE DEATH COULD BE INDUCED IN MELANOMA?, IRISH JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, 190, (SUPPL 4), 2021, ppS121--S122Conference Paper, 2021
• Johnston, Daniel and O'Neill, Luke and Corr, Sin{\'e, Su1893 Modulation of Intestinal Homeostasis and Microbial Activities by miR-21 in the Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Gastroenterology, 150, (4), 2016, pS581Journal Article, 2016
• Buruno, H and Johnston, D and Tobin, D, Can the collapse of the human scalp hair follicle pigmentary unit with age (canities) provide insight into how melanocyte death could be induced in melanoma?, BRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, 187, (1), 2022, ppE37--E37Conference Paper, 2022
• H Buruno, D Johnston, D Tobin, Can the collapse of the human scalp hair follicle pigmentary unit with age (canities) provide insight into how melanocyte death could be induced in melanoma?, British Journal of Dermatology, British Association of Dermatologists 102nd Annual Meeting, Glasgow, UK, 05"07 July 2022, 187, (S1), Wiley, 2022, ppE37 - E37Poster, 2022, URL
• Campbell C, Mayatra JM, Neve AJ, Fletcher JM, Johnston DGW., Inflammasomes: emerging therapeutic targets in hidradenitis suppurativa?, The British journal of dermatology, 2024, pljae262Review Article, 2024, DOI
• C Campbell, JM Mayatra, AJ Neve, JM Fletcher, DGW Johnston, Inflammasomes: emerging therapeutic targets in hidradenitis suppurativa?, British Journal of Dermatology, 191, (5), 2024, p670 - 679Journal Article, 2024, URL
• Downer EJ, Johnston DG, Lynch MA, Differential role of Dok1 and Dok2 in TLR2-induced inflammatory signaling in glia., Molecular and cellular neurosciences, 56C, 2013, p148-158Journal Article, 2013, DOI , TARA - Full Text
• Aviello G, Corr SC, Johnston DG, O'Neill LA, Fallon PG., MyD88 adaptor-like (Mal) regulates intestinal homeostasis and colitis-associated colorectal cancer in mice. , Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol., 306, 2014, pG769 - G778Journal Article, 2014, DOI , TARA - Full Text

• Title

  Developing an e-learning platform to retain the extraordinary educational value of our annually donated human brains and promote their clinical value through radiological integration.
  Summary
  Funding Agency

  TCD
• Title

  AnatEquip: the establishment of a standalone Anatomy Research Lab through procurement of basic research equipment
  Summary

  This proposal seeks to upgrade and enhance the research facilities in the Discipline of Anatomy,
  Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute. The majority of postgraduate and postdoctoral research takes
  place in the Anatomy Research Lab(ARL) located within the Discipline and is currently managed by
  three independent Anatomy PIs. The ARL was established in 2017 by Dr. Denis Barry to enable
  anatomical discovery and neuroscience research, through histological and cell culture-based
  experimental methodologies. The research ambitions of the Discipline have grown significantly in
  recent years, and ARL now requires infrastructural investment to meet the expanding research
  programmes of two ambitious new Assistant Professors (Dr Daniel Johnston and Dr Melissa Conroy)
  and their teams. The increase in activity has meant the current research programmes are heavily
  reliant on ad hoc arrangements with other groups and institutes for basic requirements, which is
  proving to be both inefficient and insecure. Collectively the three PIs sharing the ARL centres around
  cell and tissue biology, spanning anatomical discovery, neuroscience, barrier immunology and cancer
  immunotherapy. The equipment specified here would allow the Discipline to significantly expand its
  research capacity and ultimately, strengthen the international standing of the School and University
  in health research.
  Funding Agency

  Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
• Title

  Multi-omic mapping of tissue vulnerability to understand the initiating events of the inflammatory skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa.
  Summary

  My research group seeks to model the initiating events in the pathogenesis of the devastating inflammatory skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa using ex vivo hair follicle culture and integrating data from existing single-cell transcriptomic datasets. However, these datasets are limited as the inclusion of the key follicular unit is inconsistent across samples.
  In this project, we will build a transcriptomic map of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) hair-follicle vulnerability, by precisely taking multiple hair follicle samples from axillar resections and performing bulk and single-RNAseq from multiple samples/patient. The single-cell cell samples will identify cells types in the deconvoluted bulk RNAseq, increasing the power of the dataset.
  This proposal seeks to logically extend the scope of a current TRDA PhD project and greatly enhance its impact. Rather than relying on limited publicly available data, this proposal will allow the creation of a bespoke dataset which will benefit both our immediate and future research questions and the wider field.
  In addition, we seek to hold an ambitious and inclusive PPI event for HS patients in conjunction with partners in HS Ireland. Adapting the current best-in-class model developed by key opinion leaders in Denmark, this event will be the first of its kind in Ireland.
  Funding Agency

  TCD
• Title

  Understanding the neuroanatomy of the inflammatory skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa.
  Summary

  Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a devastating inflammatory skin condition with precise anatomical localisation that is currently unexplained. Overwhelmingly affecting the groin and the axillae, it has been assumed for years that this is due to anatomical differences due to the presence of terminally differentiated apocrine-rich hair follicles in these regions. However, the evidence linking disease onset to these structures is mixed and fails to explain the pathogenesis of disease chronicity.
  HS research has rapidly accelerated since 2008 but been exclusively the purview of dermatologists in this time.
  This project will be approached from the perspective of an anatomist to bear on HS, alongside a background in skin biology, immunology and inflammation research. It will allow me to further develop skills in the anatomical sciences, and to bring perspectives of a highly prevalent but understudied and under reported disease to future Anatomical Society summer and winter meetings and publications.
  Funding Agency

  The Anatomical Society
• Title

  Exploring the role of immunostimulatory nucleic acids in hidradenitis suppurativa
  Summary
  Funding Agency

  City of Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital Charity
• Title

  Modelling Hair Follicle Breakdown in The Inflammatory Skin Disease Hidradenitis Suppurativa.
  Summary
  Funding Agency

  TCD
• Title

  Modelling Hair Follicle Breakdown in The Inflammatory Skin Disease Hidradenitis Suppurativa
  Summary

  This project seeks to explore the cause of the devasting skin condition hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). People with HS suffer recurring inflamed lesions in areas where skin touches skin, such as under the arms or the groin, causing great unseen pain and wounds with embarrassing odorous discharge causing social reclusion and mental health difficulties. HS disproportionally affects people with lower socioeconomic status, and it has the added affect of further driving people with the condition into further poverty through missed workdays through physical and mental illness. This disease has a great unmet clinical and social need and is an ideal starting point for our new laboratory, which seeks to perform excellent science that benefits society locally and globally in an inclusive and environmentally sustainable way.
  
  Biologically, HS is thought to originate in hair follicles " critical skin appendages with many roles in regulating bodily function. Hair follicles in HS appear to become blocked, and then rupture triggering the immune system to cause sustained inflammation and scarring. However, the chain of events is poorly understood despite consensus that hair follicles are the site of disease origin.
  In this work, we seek to understand how hair follicles in people with HS become so badly disrupted, and whether this information can be used to design a tissue culture model of HS hair follicle breakdown to better understand the disease, and trial potential disease treatments as a first step towards clinical use.
  To do this, we will take advantage of several collaborations established in recent years to gain access to cutting edge `omics data and rare tissue samples to build a picture of hair follicle vulnerability and model it in a laboratory setting. Firstly, using hair follicle biopsies, the student will be trained in their culture in the lab and learn to employ an existing model of hair follicle disruption used to study alopecia areata. The student will then undertake a systematic review of the HS literature and a computational biology analysis integrating data from collaborators to compare follicles from HS to other skin diseases. In the third aim of the project, we bring together data from our tissue culture model and `omics analysis, with data from the HS literature, with the aim of identifying factors that can cause hair follicle collapse, and determining if hair follicles from HS patients are more vulnerable to stresses. We will seek to reverse any disruption using pharmacological treatment which may inform future HS treatment strategies.
  Funding Agency

  TCD
  Date From

  2023
  Date To

  2027
• Title

  Functional analysis of hidradenitis suppurativa inflammasome protein mutations in keratinocytes
  Summary
  Funding Agency

  British Skin Foundation
• Title

  Rational design of 3D organotypic in vitro models of the inflammatory skin disease Hidradenitis Suppuarativa
  Summary

  Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic skin disease which dramatically lessens patient quality of life and affects over 1% of Irish people. Sufferers of HS experience inflammation in areas where skin rubs together (e.g. under the arms) which is associated with painful boils which flare and burst, and ultimately scar. These symptoms lead to embarrassment and social exclusion that is psychologically devastating. Little is known about the causes of HS and there is only a single licensed treatment for the disease.
  A major obstacle in understanding HS and designing new treatments is the lack of an effective disease model for use by researchers. The goal of this project is to begin developing such a model for use in a controlled laboratory setting, reducing reliance on patient biopsies which are painful and invasive for patient donors and scarce and limiting for researchers. We propose to establish a skin cell culture system which we can modify to accurately model HS. We will use data obtained from our previous work to modify the system, skewing the skin cells to closely resemble those in HS. This project will allow for a larger study to further develop our model to understand and treat this disease.
  Funding Agency

  Enterprise Ireland
  Date From

  10/03/2023
• Title

  Rational design of 3D organotypic in vitro models of the inflammatory skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa towards a high risk, high reward application for an ERC Starting Grant.
  Summary

  Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic skin disease which dramatically lessens patient quality of life and affects over 1% of Irish people. Sufferers of HS experience inflammation in areas where skin rubs together (e.g. under the arms) which is associated with painful boils which flare and burst, and ultimately scar. These symptoms lead to embarrassment and social exclusion that is psychologically devastating. Little is known about the causes of HS and there is only a single licensed treatment for the disease.
  A major obstacle in understanding HS and designing new treatments is the lack of an effective disease model for use by researchers. The goal of this project is to begin developing such a model for use in a controlled laboratory setting, reducing reliance on patient biopsies which are painful and invasive for patient donors and scarce and limiting for researchers. We propose to establish a skin cell culture system which we can modify to accurately model HS. We will use data obtained from our previous work to modify the system, skewing the skin cells to closely resemble those in HS. This project will allow for a larger study to further develop our model to understand and treat this disease.
  Funding Agency

  TCD
  Date From

  05/04/2023
  Date To

  04/04/2024
• Title

  Optimizing assessment patterns in anatomy through open-source software and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) Artificial Intelligence.
  Summary

  The Discipline of Anatomy is responsible for the education of ~880 undergraduate students across multiple courses. With a small academic staff (five), the process of coordinating, teaching, examining and marking can be overwhelming and leaves less time for interactive small-group teaching and detailed feedback that allows our students thrive1,2. With large student numbers meticulous attention is needed to maintain the quality and integrity of examinations, a process that becomes increasingly difficult as student numbers continue to rise. Innovative solutions are required to address this issue.
  This proposal aims to reduce the workload on individual academic staff and simultaneously improve the quality of our assessments through a combination of open-source exam-banking software and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) AI.
  Funding Agency

  TCD
• Title

  Understanding the neuroanatomy of the inflammatory skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa.
  Summary
  Funding Agency

  Health Research Board
• Title

  Functional analysis of inflammasome protein mutations n the inflammatory skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa
  Summary

  Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a common and debilitating inflammatory skin disease
  with a prevalence between 1 and 4%. The aetiology of HS is poorly understood, and
  treatment options are limited 1 . Only 50% of patients respond to anti-TNF" biologics
  treatment, the current best-in-class therapy for the disease. Further research into the
  pathophysiology of HS is required in order to create more optimized and personalized
  treatment options. Combining the disciplines of human genetics, immunology and
  dermatology offers promise in the pursuit of this goal.
  
  One promising avenue of investigation towards understanding disease biology is the role of
  inflammasomes in HS. Inflammasomes are multiprotein complexes that play a central role in
  innate immunity. Inflammasome activation is crucial for host defense to pathogens, but overactivation has been reported in HS at the molecular level, but the reasons for this are unclear. Numerous case reports demonstrate that HS is a component of PAPA syndrome and a recent large epidemiological study found that HS is associated with Mediterranean Fever (MF), both implicating the pyrin inflammasome. This project aims this project is to functionally characterize these mutations using precise and sophisticated in vitro cell culture systems. This will help to uncover relevant
  disease biology, which will implicate cells and molecules in HS pathogenesis, and potentially
  point towards druggable pathways in this poorly studied condition.
  Funding Agency

  City of Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital Charity
  Date From

  01/02/2023
  Date To

  01/02/2024
• Title

  AbbVie Immunology Network - University of Oxford
  Summary

  The research focusses on aim is to advancing our understanding of cell interactions driving disease processes in the gut, joint and skin, to develop new therapeutic approaches for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS).
  Funding Agency

  AbbVie

Biochemistry and cell biology, Immunology, Microbiology,

• Trinity Research Doctoral Award 2023
• Bryan Warren Junior Research Fellowship, Linacre College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom 2017
• FHS Dean's Award for Research 2025
• Visiting Assistant Professorship, UCD Charles Insitute of Dermatology 2022
• FHS Dean's Award for Teaching Innovation 2025
• UCD Career Development Fellowship 2020
• TCD MED Award 2023
• HRB Health Impact Fulbright Scholarship 2022
• AbbVie Newman Fellowship in Dermatology 2020

• British Society for Immunology, Oxford, GB
• Anatomical Society
• Irish Society for Immunology

• Irish Representative to the Young European Federation of Immunological Sciences 2020
• Consultancy: Curie.Bio VC, Boston, MA, USA 1st June
• Immunotherapy Advances Early Career Editorial Board Member 01 August