Katerina Johnson
About
Katerina researches the communication between the nervous system and the community of microorganisms living in the gut. Her PhD studies focus on this microbiome-gut-brain axis and its potential to provide novel insights into individual variation in social behaviour and personality.
Expertise
- Microbiome
- Probiotics & prebiotics
- Gut bacteria
- Brain & behaviour
- Social behaviour
- Evolution
Selected publications
- Why does the microbiome affect behaviour? Nature Reviews Microbiology 16, 647–655 (2018)
- Microbiome: Should we diversify from diversity? (Gut Microbes 7, 455-458 (2016))
- Pain tolerance predicts human social network size. Scientific Reports 6, 25267 (2016)
- Male great tits assort by personality during the breeding season (Animal Behaviour 128, 21-32 (2017))
Media experience
Katerina has considerable experience working with local, national and international media, including live and pre-recorded interviews for television and radio e.g. Sky News, ITV, BBC, Guardian, Telegraph and Time Magazine. She also has work experience in the industry as a researcher for science documentaries for the BBC and National Geographic. Katerina was also chosen to be a TEDx Speaker 2019.
Please visit Dr Johnson's Twitter feed and YouTube channel for current and past media engagement and science communication activities.
Recent media work
- BBC Future - What we do and don't know about gut health
- The Scientist - Opinion: Microbial Mind Control - Truth or Scare?
- FunKids Science Weekly
- Facebook LIVE with Katerina Johnson
- Guerilla Science
- BBC Inside Science: Violins - Social networks and cliques in great tits and snow monkeys - Exploring DNA and art
- Sky News: Do People Who Have A Large Circle Of Friends Have A Higher Tolerance For Pain?
- CTV News: Friends may be better than morphine at killing pain, study suggests
Languages
English, some French