Spectroscopy and Dynamics of Single Molecules

Carey Johnson, PhD is a full professor of chemisty in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kansas. Dr. Johnson received his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1981 with a research project on two-photon absorption in organic crystals with Professor Gerald Small. He remained at Iowa State for a year of postdoctoral work on coherent Raman spectroscopy and then moved to the University of Pennsylvania for an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship under the supervision of Professor Robin Hochstrasser. Dr. Johnson's research uses time-resolved and single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy to investigate dynamics and conformations of proteins with a particular interest on calcium signaling proteins. A range of single-molecule and time-resolved methods (energy transfer, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, fluorescence anisotropy, time-correlated single photon counting) are used to probe protein dynamics and interactions. Other research interests include the development of multiphoton imaging methods. Dr. Johnson has published over 100 scientific articles and has served on numerous review panels at the NIH and NSF. He has been active in teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, including recent efforts to incorporate active learning methods into general chemistry courses.