G. Allan Johnson

Charles E. Putman University Distinguished Professor of Radiology

Dr. Johnson is the Charles E. Putman University Professor of Radiology, Professor of Physics, and Biomedical Engineering, and Director of the Duke Center for In Vivo Microscopy (CIVM). The CIVM is an NIH/NIBIB national Biomedical Technology Resource Center with a mission to develop novel technologies for preclinical imaging (basic sciences) and apply the technologies to critical biomedical questions. Dr. Johnson was one of the first researchers to bring Paul Lauterbur's vision of magnetic resonance (MR) microscopy to practice as described in his paper, "Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging at microscopic resolution" (J Magn Reson 68:129-137, 1986). Dr. Johnson is involved in both the engineering physics required to extend the resolution of MR imaging and in a broad range of applications in the basic sciences.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Charles E. Putman University Distinguished Professor of Radiology
  • Professor of Radiology
  • Professor of Biomedical Engineering
  • Professor in the Department of Physics
  • Member of the Duke Cancer Institute

Contact Information

  • Office Location: 141D Bryan Neuroscience Bldg, Research Drive, Durham, NC 27710
  • Email Address: gjohnson@duke.edu
  • Websites:

Education

  • Ph.D. Duke University, 1974

Courses Taught

  • BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
  • BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Calabrese, Evan, Alexandra Badea, Gary Cofer, Yi Qi, and G Allan Johnson. “A Diffusion MRI Tractography Connectome of the Mouse Brain and Comparison with Neuronal Tracer Data.” Cereb Cortex 25, no. 11 (November 2015): 4628–37. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhv121.
  • Calabrese, Evan, Alexandra Badea, Christopher L. Coe, Gabriele R. Lubach, Yundi Shi, Martin A. Styner, and G Allan Johnson. “A diffusion tensor MRI atlas of the postmortem rhesus macaque brain.” Neuroimage 117 (August 15, 2015): 408–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.05.072.
  • Calabrese, Evan, Patrick Hickey, Christine Hulette, Jingxian Zhang, Beth Parente, Shivanand P. Lad, and G Allan Johnson. “Postmortem diffusion MRI of the human brainstem and thalamus for deep brain stimulator electrode localization.” Hum Brain Mapp 36, no. 8 (August 2015): 3167–78. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22836.
  • Johnson, G Allan. “Magnetic resonance histology.” J Magn Reson Imaging 42, no. 1 (July 2015): 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.24774.
  • Paxinos, G., C. Watson, E. Calabrese, A. Badea, and G. Johnson. An MRI/DTI Atlas of the Rat Brain. Elsevier, Academic Press, 2015.
  • Xie, Luke, Yi Qi, Ergys Subashi, Grace Liao, Laura Miller-DeGraff, Anton M. Jetten, and G Allan Johnson. “4D MRI of polycystic kidneys from rapamycin-treated Glis3-deficient mice.” NMR Biomed 28, no. 5 (May 2015): 546–54. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.3281.
  • Subashi, Ergys, Yi Qi, and G Allan Johnson. “Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR microscopy identifies regions of therapeutic response in a preclinical model of colorectal adenocarcinoma.” Med Phys 42, no. 5 (May 2015): 2482–88. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4917525.
  • Xie, Luke, Russell Dibb, Gary P. Cofer, Wei Li, Peter J. Nicholls, G Allan Johnson, and Chunlei Liu. “Susceptibility tensor imaging of the kidney and its microstructural underpinnings.” Magn Reson Med 73, no. 3 (March 2015): 1270–81. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.25219.
  • Papp, Eszter A., Trygve B. Leergaard, Evan Calabrese, G Allan Johnson, and Jan G. Bjaalie. “Addendum to “Waxholm Space atlas of the Sprague Dawley rat brain” [NeuroImage 97 (2014) 374-386].” Neuroimage 105 (January 15, 2015): 561–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.10.017.
  • Borg, Jana Schaich, Mai-Anh Vu, Cristian Badea, Alexandra Badea, G Allan Johnson, and Kafui Dzirasa. “Localization of Metal Electrodes in the Intact Rat Brain Using Registration of 3D Microcomputed Tomography Images to a Magnetic Resonance Histology Atlas.” ENeuro 2, no. 4 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0017-15.2015.
  • Calabrese, Evan, Alexandra Badea, Christopher L. Coe, Gabriele R. Lubach, Martin A. Styner, and G Allan Johnson. “Investigating the tradeoffs between spatial resolution and diffusion sampling for brain mapping with diffusion tractography: time well spent?” Hum Brain Mapp 35, no. 11 (November 2014): 5667–85. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22578.
  • Xie, Luke, Ergys Subashi, Yi Qi, Mark A. Knepper, and G Allan Johnson. “Four-dimensional MRI of renal function in the developing mouse.” NMR Biomed 27, no. 9 (September 2014): 1094–1102. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.3162.
  • Johnson, G Allan, Alexandra Badea, Evan Calabrese, Chunlei Liu, and Luke Xie. “Magnetic resonance histology—Applications in toxicology.” In Toxicology Letters, 229:S31–32. Elsevier BV, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2014.06.148.
  • Papp, Eszter A., Trygve B. Leergaard, Evan Calabrese, G Allan Johnson, and Jan G. Bjaalie. “Waxholm Space atlas of the Sprague Dawley rat brain.” Neuroimage 97 (August 15, 2014): 374–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.04.001.
  • Calabrese, Evan, Fu Du, Robert H. Garman, G Allan Johnson, Cory Riccio, Lawrence C. Tong, and Joseph B. Long. “Diffusion tensor imaging reveals white matter injury in a rat model of repetitive blast-induced traumatic brain injury.” J Neurotrauma 31, no. 10 (May 15, 2014): 938–50. https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2013.3144.
  • Johnson, G Allan, Evan Calabrese, Peter B. Little, Laurence Hedlund, Yi Qi, and Alexandra Badea. “Quantitative mapping of trimethyltin injury in the rat brain using magnetic resonance histology.” Neurotoxicology 42 (May 2014): 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2014.02.009.
  • Gyengesi, Erika, Evan Calabrese, Matthew C. Sherrier, G Allan Johnson, George Paxinos, and Charles Watson. “Semi-automated 3D segmentation of major tracts in the rat brain: comparing DTI with standard histological methods.” Brain Struct Funct 219, no. 2 (March 2014): 539–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-013-0516-8.
  • Calabrese, Evan, and G Allan Johnson. “Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance histology reveals microstructural changes in the developing rat brain.” Neuroimage 79 (October 1, 2013): 329–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.101.
  • Pandit, Prachi, Samuel M. Johnston, Yi Qi, Jennifer Story, Rendon Nelson, and G Allan Johnson. “The utility of micro-CT and MRI in the assessment of longitudinal growth of liver metastases in a preclinical model of colon carcinoma.” Acad Radiol 20, no. 4 (April 2013): 430–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2012.09.030.
  • Calabrese, Evan, G Allan Johnson, and Charles Watson. “An ontology-based segmentation scheme for tracking postnatal changes in the developing rodent brain with MRI.” Neuroimage 67 (February 15, 2013): 375–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.11.037.
  • Subashi, Ergys, Everett J. Moding, Gary P. Cofer, James R. MacFall, David G. Kirsch, Yi Qi, and G Allan Johnson. “A comparison of radial keyhole strategies for high spatial and temporal resolution 4D contrast-enhanced MRI in small animal tumor models.” Med Phys 40, no. 2 (February 2013): 022304. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4774050.
  • Badea, Alexandra, and G Allan Johnson. “Magnetic resonance microscopy.” Stud Health Technol Inform 185 (2013): 153–84.
  • Johnson, G Allan, Alexandra Badea, Evan Calabrese, Chunlei Liu, and Luke Xie. “Magnetic resonance histology: cool images- but who cares?” TOXICOLOGY LETTERS 221 (2013): S50–S50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2013.06.183.
  • Badea, Alexandra, Sally Gewalt, Brian B. Avants, James J. Cook, and G Allan Johnson. “Quantitative mouse brain phenotyping based on single and multispectral MR protocols.” Neuroimage 63, no. 3 (November 15, 2012): 1633–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.07.021.
  • Johnson, G Allan, Evan Calabrese, Alexandra Badea, George Paxinos, and Charles Watson. “A multidimensional magnetic resonance histology atlas of the Wistar rat brain.” Neuroimage 62, no. 3 (September 2012): 1848–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.05.041.
  • Liu, Chunlei, Wei Li, Bing Wu, Yi Jiang, and G Allan Johnson. “3D fiber tractography with susceptibility tensor imaging.” Neuroimage 59, no. 2 (January 16, 2012): 1290–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.07.096.
  • Guo, Xiaolian, Samuel M. Johnston, Yi Qi, G Allan Johnson, and Cristian T. Badea. “4D micro-CT using fast prospective gating.” Phys Med Biol 57, no. 1 (January 7, 2012): 257–71. https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/57/1/257.
  • Lipinski, Robert J., Peter Hammond, Shonagh K. O’Leary-Moore, Jacob J. Ament, Stephen J. Pecevich, Yi Jiang, Francois Budin, et al. “Ethanol-induced face-brain dysmorphology patterns are correlative and exposure-stage dependent.” PLoS One 7, no. 8 (2012): e43067. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043067.
  • Badea, Alexandra, and G Allan Johnson. “Magnetic resonance microscopy.” Anal Cell Pathol (Amst) 35, no. 4 (2012): 205–27. https://doi.org/10.3233/ACP-2011-0050.
  • Veraart, Jelle, Trygve B. Leergaard, Bjørnar T. Antonsen, Wim Van Hecke, Ines Blockx, Ben Jeurissen, Yi Jiang, et al. “Population-averaged diffusion tensor imaging atlas of the Sprague Dawley rat brain.” Neuroimage 58, no. 4 (October 15, 2011): 975–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.06.063.
  • Liu, Chunlei, Wei Li, G Allan Johnson, and Bing Wu. “High-field (9.4 T) MRI of brain dysmyelination by quantitative mapping of magnetic susceptibility.” Neuroimage 56, no. 3 (June 1, 2011): 930–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.02.024.
  • Bowden, Douglas M., G Allan Johnson, Laszlo Zaborsky, William D. K. Green, Eider Moore, Alexandra Badea, Mark F. Dubach, and Fred L. Bookstein. “A symmetrical Waxholm canonical mouse brain for NeuroMaps.” J Neurosci Methods 195, no. 2 (February 15, 2011): 170–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2010.11.028.
  • Hawrylycz, Michael, Richard A. Baldock, Albert Burger, Tsutomu Hashikawa, G Allan Johnson, Maryann Martone, Lydia Ng, et al. “Digital atlasing and standardization in the mouse brain.” PLoS Comput Biol 7, no. 2 (February 3, 2011): e1001065. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1001065.
  • Johnson, G Allan, Alexandra Badea, and Yi Jiang. “Quantitative neuromorphometry using magnetic resonance histology.” Toxicol Pathol 39, no. 1 (January 2011): 85–91. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192623310389622.
  • Johnson, G Allan, Alexandra Badea, Jeffrey Brandenburg, Gary Cofer, Boma Fubara, Song Liu, and Jonathan Nissanov. “Waxholm space: an image-based reference for coordinating mouse brain research.” Neuroimage 53, no. 2 (November 1, 2010): 365–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.06.067.
  • Pandit, Prachi, Yi Qi, Jennifer Story, Kevin F. King, and G Allan Johnson. “Multishot PROPELLER for high-field preclinical MRI.” Magn Reson Med 64, no. 1 (July 2010): 47–53. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.22376.
  • Jiang, Yi, and G Allan Johnson. “Microscopic diffusion tensor imaging of the mouse brain.” Neuroimage 50, no. 2 (April 1, 2010): 465–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.12.057.
  • Badea, Alexandra, G Allan Johnson, and Joanna L. Jankowsky. “Remote sites of structural atrophy predict later amyloid formation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.” Neuroimage 50, no. 2 (April 1, 2010): 416–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.12.070.
  • Mistry, Nilesh N., Yi Qi, Laurence W. Hedlund, and G Allan Johnson. “Ventilation/perfusion imaging in a rat model of airway obstruction.” Magn Reson Med 63, no. 3 (March 2010): 728–35. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.22221.
  • Petiet, Alexandra, and G Allan Johnson. “Active staining of mouse embryos for magnetic resonance microscopy.” Methods Mol Biol 611 (2010): 141–49. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-345-9_11.
  • Badea, Alexandra, G Allan Johnson, and Robert W. Williams. “Genetic dissection of the mouse CNS using magnetic resonance microscopy.” Curr Opin Neurol 22, no. 4 (August 2009): 379–86. https://doi.org/10.1097/WCO.0b013e32832d9b86.
  • Sharief, Anjum A., Alexandra Badea, Anders M. Dale, and G Allan Johnson. “Automated segmentation of the actively stained mouse brain using multi-spectral MR microscopy.” Neuroimage 39, no. 1 (January 1, 2008): 136–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.08.028.
  • Johnson, G Allan, Anjum Ali-Sharief, Alexandra Badea, Jeffrey Brandenburg, Gary Cofer, Boma Fubara, Sally Gewalt, Laurence W. Hedlund, and Lucy Upchurch. “High-throughput morphologic phenotyping of the mouse brain with magnetic resonance histology.” Neuroimage 37, no. 1 (August 1, 2007): 82–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.05.013.
  • Ali, Anjum A., Anders M. Dale, Alexandra Badea, and G Allan Johnson. “Automated segmentation of neuroanatomical structures in multispectral MR microscopy of the mouse brain.” Neuroimage 27, no. 2 (August 15, 2005): 425–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.04.017.
  • Johnson, G Allan, Gary P. Cofer, Sally L. Gewalt, and Laurence W. Hedlund. “Morphologic phenotyping with MR microscopy: the visible mouse.” Radiology 222, no. 3 (March 2002): 789–93. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2223010531.
  • Johnson, G. A., G. P. Cofer, S. L. Gewalt, and L. W. Hedlund. “An engineering approach to image-based phenotyping.” In 2002 IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON BIOMEDICAL IMAGING, PROCEEDINGS, 381–83, 2002.
  • Johnson, G. A., and L. W. Hedlund. “Image based phenotyping: The visible mouse.” FASEB JOURNAL 16, no. 5 (2002): A1091–A1091.
  • Johnson, G. A., H. Benveniste, R. T. Engelhardt, H. Qiu, and L. W. Hedlund. “Magnetic resonance microscopy in basic studies of brain structure and function.” Ann N Y Acad Sci 820 (May 30, 1997): 139–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb46193.x.
  • Johnson, G. A., H. Benveniste, R. D. Black, L. W. Hedlund, R. R. Maronpot, and B. R. Smith. “Histology by magnetic resonance microscopy.” Magn Reson Q 9, no. 1 (March 1993): 1–30.
  • Johnson, G. A., M. B. Thompson, and B. P. Drayer. “Three-dimensional MRI microscopy of the normal rat brain.” Magn Reson Med 4, no. 4 (April 1987): 351–65. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.1910040406.
  • Johnson, G. A., M. B. Thompson, S. L. Gewalt, and C. E. Hayes. “Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging at microscopic resolution.” Journal of Magnetic Resonance (1969) 68, no. 1 (1986): 129–37.