About
Jennifer A. Johnston, Ph.D. is an American biopharmaceutical executive and neuroscientist best known as the co-founder and CEO of NysnoBio, a San Francisco Bay Area-based biotechnology company launched in 2019 to develop Parkin protein-based gene therapies and small molecules targeting early-onset Parkinson's disease (Parkin-PD) and other neurodegenerative conditions. With over 20 years in the industry—including 13 years leading discovery research at Elan Pharmaceuticals, where she advanced multiple PD candidates—she previously co-founded An2H Discovery focusing on ubiquitin pathway enzymes. A longtime member of the Michael J. Fox Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board, Johnston's research spans the ubiquitin-proteasome system, from her Ph.D. at Dartmouth, postdoctoral work at Caltech and Stanford (discovering aggresomes), to pioneering Parkin activation strategies, holding numerous patents and publications.