PDRA at the electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC)
Hannah joined eBIC in January 2026.
Email: [email protected]Tel: +44 (0) 1235 56 7789
Hannah Johnston
Tel: +44 (0) 1235 56 7789
Hannah joined eBIC in January 2026 as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in Dr Christos Savva’s lab. Her work focuses on using cryo-EM and cryo-ET to study bacteriophage host-cell lysis, aiming to obtain high resolution structures of the lysis proteins, in addition to capturing the stages of lysis and the membrane pore formation in vivo.
Hannah obtained her PhD from the University of Birmingham in 2026 under Prof Tim Knowles, where she studied membrane lipid transporters in Gram-negative bacteria. She used cryo-EM, planar bilayer systems and fluorescence-based assays to investigate the structure and function of a cell envelope spanning membrane protein complex. Overall, Hannah’s interests remain in investigating biological processes which influence bacterial membranes, with the aim to help combat antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Caulton, S.G., Cadby, I.T., Hughes, G.W., Johnston, H., Knowles, T.J., Lovering, A.L. (2025) TipA, a Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus BPI-like double-TULIP is opened by its adapter protein, TipB. bioRxiv, 2025.09.09.675085.
Johnston, H.E., Batt, S.M., Brown, A.K., Savva, C.G., Besra, G.S. and Fütterer, K. (2024) Cryo-electron microscopy structure of the di-domain core of Mycobacterium tuberculosis polyketide synthase 13, essential for mycobacterial mycolic acid synthesis. Microbiology, 170 (10), 1505.
Wotherspoon, P., Johnston, H., Hardy, D.J., Holyfield, R., Bui, S., Ratkevičiūtė, G., Sridhar, P., Colburn, J., Wilson, C.B., Colyer, A., Cooper, B.F., Bryant, J.A., Hughes, G.W., Stansfeld, P.J., Bergeron, J.R.C. and Knowles, T.J. (2024) Structure of the MlaC-MlaD complex reveals molecular basis of periplasmic phospholipid transport. Nat. Commun., 15, 6394.
Cooper, B.F., Ratkevičiūtė, G., Clifton, L.A., Johnston, H., Holyfield, R., Hardy, D.J., Caulton, S.G., Chatterton, W., Sridhar, P., Wotherspoon, P., Hughes, G.W., Hall, S.C., Lovering, A.L. and Knowles, T.J. (2024) An octameric PqiC toroid stabilises the outer-membrane interaction of the PqiABC transport system. EMBO Rep., 25, 82-101.
Hall, S.C.L., Hardy, D.J., Bragginton, É.C., Johnston, H., Onose, T., Holyfield, R., Sridhar, P., Knowles, T.J. and Clifton, L.A. (2024) Distance tuneable integral membrane protein containing floating bilayers via in situ directed self-assembly Nanoscale, 16, 13503-13515.
