About
Dr. Osborne is associate dean for Basic Research and director of the Johns Hopkins All Children's Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research. He is a professor of medicine, Biological Chemistry and Pediatrics and a member of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Osborne’s career has been focused on the molecular aspects of gene expression and regulation. Born in Ouray, Colorado, he studied fundamental biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and then earned his Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular biology at UCLA. As a graduate student, he worked on gene regulation in human adenoviruses with Arnold Berk, M.D., at UCLA and was one of the first to construct adenovirus recombinant viruses and analyze their expression in cultured cells. His studies were among the first to show that an AT rich “TATA” sequence was essential for normal RNA pol II gene expression in eukaryotic cells. His studies analyzed this in the normal physiological context of the adenovirus genome, which could not be done for host encoded genes at that time.
He continued his interest in the regulation of gene expression through postdoctoral training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, working in the lab of Michael Brown, M.D., and Joseph Goldstein, M.D., who won the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the regulation of cholesterol metabolism.” It was during this time that he began a career-long interest in the connection between the metabolic regulation of gene expression and physiology, which continues to be the underlying theme of his research focus to the present day.
Dr. Osborne spent 20 years as a faculty member at UC Irvine, earning the rank of professor in 1998 and he served as chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from 2005-2009. He was recruited to become the founding director of a program focused on Metabolic Disease at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute in Lake Nona, Florida, ultimately serving as Scientific Director. He joined Johns Hopkins All Children’s in 2018.
Post-doctoral opportunity
A post-doctoral research fellowship position in basic science in the field of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism research is available in the laboratory of Dr. Osborne in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research.
More information about requirements is available here. For more information or to apply, please contact Dr. Osborne at [email protected] with a CV including references and a cover letter/personal statement.
Education
- A.B., Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1978
- Ph.D., Microbiology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1983
Department and Institute Affiliations
- Associate Dean for Basic Research, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital
- Director of Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research, Johns Hopkins All Children’s
- Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Johns Hopkins All Children’s
- Professor, Department of Medicine (Primary Appointment), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- Professor of Biological Chemistry (Secondary Appointment), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Honors and Awards
- Robert T. Wong Lectureship, John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, 2019
- J. Lipid Res. Distinguished Lectureship, 2015 Keystone Conference on Crossroads of Lipid Metabolism and Diabetes, 2015
- Key Note Bollum Biochemistry Symposium U. Minnesota, 1998
- UCI Chancellor’s Award for Mentoring Undergraduate Research, 1998
- Wu Lectureship Columbia U. Institute of Human Nutrition, 1997
- Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Shirahama Conference Japan, 1994
- Established Investigator AHA, 1993 to 1998
- UCLA Microbiology Department Sydney Rittenberg Graduate Student Award, 1983
- UCLA Alumni Foundation Outstanding Graduate Student Award, 1983
- NIH Genetics and Regulatory Mechanisms raining Fellowship, 1979 to 1982
- UC Regents Intern Fellowship (UCLA), 1978 and 1983
