Angus Johnson
About Me
Angus grew up in Canton, NY, and received his B.S. in Biological Sciences from SUNY Binghamton in 2020. During his time at Binghamton, Angus completed the First-Year Research Immersion program on Microbial Biofilms with Dr. Caitlin Light, a program focused on helping develop research skills early in students’ academic careers. Working with Dr. Light, Angus and coworkers began to describe how a signaling molecule PQS led to increased outer membrane vesicles in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. After completion of the FRI program, Angus served as a peer mentor for future cohorts of students, while continuing research in the lab of Dr. Cláudia Marques. There he began studying how mucin affects the antimicrobial susceptibility of P. aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus biofilms, work upon which he would write and defend and Honor’s Thesis. In the summer of 2020, Angus also worked with Dr. Peter Belenky at Brown University through The Leadership Alliance, an organization focused on helping underrepresented and underprivileged students acquire positive research experiences. After graduating from Binghamton University in December of 2020, Angus continued working in bacterial research there with Dr. Peter McKenney, studying interactions between Clostridioides difficile and Enterococcus species. Angus joined the Dartmouth MCB program in the Fall of 2021 and joined the Cramer lab in 2022. His interests encompass Aspergillus fumigatus biofilms and how the fungus can adapt to the host environment. He is currently utilizing genetic and biochemical approaches to understand the pathway through which Baf genes, previously discovered in the lab, can influence biofilm architecture and colony morphology.