Professional Bio
Rachelle Johnson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Director of Graduate Studies for the Program in Cancer Biology in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Dr. Johnson's current research focus is on the mechanisms that regulate breast cancer progression, tumor dissemination to bone, and entry and exit from dormancy in the bone marrow.
The Johnson lab has a long-standing interest in mechanisms of bone metastasis. Using spontaneous models of mouse mammary carcinoma and an estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer model of spontaneous bone metastasis developed in-house, the Johnson lab has identified key bone dissemination signaling pathways, including HIF1, HIF2, VHL, and PREX1.
As a postdoc, Dr. Johnson identified the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIFR) as a pro-dormancy/tumor suppressive signal within the bone marrow. Her lab has since identified multiple upstream regulators of LIFR in breast cancer, including hypoxia, histone acetylation, and parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) and is actively investigating ways to target these upstream molecules in breast cancer using histone deacetylase inhibitors and PTHrP isoforms that regulate LIFR through non-canonical autocrine activity. The Johnson Lab is also interested in mechanisms of drug-induced bone loss and fracture prevention in patients receiving bone-damaging cancer therapies. Her lab is working to determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms of profound bone loss observed following PD-1 blockade, and how the presence of overt bone metastases modulates the bone marrow microenvironment.
Dr. Johnson has received numerous Young Investigator awards and fellowships from leading national and international organizations in cancer and bone, including the John Haddad Award and Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Awards from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), the Kaye Ibbertson Award for Bone and Mineral Medicine from the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society, and an NIH Pathway to Independence Award from the National Cancer Institute. She currently serves as an ASBMR U.S. Bone and Joint Ambassador and as Co-Chair of the ASBMR Early-Stage Investigator Sub-Committee and is Secretary/Treasurer of the Cancer and Bone Society.
Relevant Links
Publications
Education
PhD - Cancer Biology - Vanderbilt University, 2011
Contact
Email
Kimryn.Rathmell@Vumc.Org
Address
777 Preston Research Building
2220 Pierce Ave
Nashville, TN 37232-6307