My research group is interested in combining mathematical, statistical, and experimental approaches to learn about the biological world, and how we can interact with it to improve human lives. 

You can read more at the research group website.

I'm also involved in teaching, mainly statistical, mathematical modelling, and computational biology approaches at UiB.

STAT200, STAT202

Academic article

• Eszter Dombi; Tony Marinaki; Paolo Spingardi et al. (2024). Nucleoside supplements as treatments for mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. (external link)
• Kazeem Adesina Dauda; Olav Nicolay Larsson Aga; Iain George Johnston (2025). Clustering Large-Scale Biomedical Data to Model Dynamic Accumulation Processes in Disease Progression and Anti-Microbial Resistance Evolution. (external link)
• Kathrin Garschall; Eudald Pascual Carreras; Belen Garcia Pascual et al. (2024). The cellular basis of feeding-dependent body size plasticity in sea anemones. (external link)
• Iain George Johnston (2022). Optimal strategies in the Fighting Fantasy gaming system: influencing stochastic dynamics by gambling with limited resource. (external link)
• Konstantinos Giannakis; Amanda K. Broz; Daniel B. Sloan et al. (2023). Avoiding misleading estimates using mtDNA heteroplasmy statistics to study bottleneck size and selection. (external link)
• Boris Pantic; Daniel Ives; Mara Mennuni et al. (2021). 2-Deoxy-D-glucose couples mitochondrial DNA replication with mitochondrial fitness and promotes the selection of wild-type over mutant mitochondrial DNA. (external link)
• Joanna M. Chustecki; Ross D Etherington; Daniel J. Gibbs et al. (2022). Altered collective mitochondrial dynamics in the Arabidopsis msh1 mutant compromising organelle DNA maintenance. (external link)
• Sam Greenbury; Mauricio Barahona; Iain Johnston (2019). HyperTraPS: Inferring probabilistic patterns of trait acquisition in evolutionary and disease progression pathways. (external link)
• Juvid Aryaman; Charlotte Bowles; Nick Jones et al. (2019). Mitochondrial network state scales mtDNA genetic dynamics. (external link)
• Iain Johnston; Mark Slater; Jean-Baptiste Cazier (2022). Interdisciplinary and Transferable Concepts in Bioinformatics Education: Observations and Approaches From a UK MSc Course. (external link)
• Angelos-Theodoros Athanasiou; T Nussbaumer; Stefan Kummer et al. (2020). S100A4 mRNA-protein relationship uncovered by measurement noise reduction. (external link)
• Iain George Johnston; Till Hoffmann; Sam Greenbury et al. (2019). Precision identification of high-risk phenotypes and progression pathways in severe malaria without requiring longitudinal data. (external link)
• Amanda K. Broz; Daniel B. Sloan; Iain Johnston (2023). Stochastic organelle genome segregation through Arabidopsis development and reproduction. (external link)
• Arunas Radzvilavicius; Iain Johnston (2022). Organelle bottlenecks facilitate evolvability by traversing heteroplasmic fitness valleys. (external link)
• Arunas Radzvilavicius; Sean Layh; Matthew D. Hall et al. (2021). Sexually antagonistic evolution of mitochondrial and nuclear linkage. (external link)
• Clare Ziegler; Aleksandra Kulawska; Angeliki Kourmouli et al. (2022). Quantification and uncertainty of root growth stimulation by elevated CO<inf>2</inf> in a mature temperate deciduous forest. (external link)
• Marcus Theodor Moen; Iain George Johnston (2022). HyperHMM: efficient inference of evolutionary and progressive dynamics on hypercubic transition graphs. (external link)
• Hanne Hoitzing; Payam Gammage; Lindsey van Haute et al. (2019). Energetic costs of cellular and therapeutic control of stochastic mitochondrial DNA populations. (external link)
• Jessica Renz; Kazeem Adesina Dauda; Olav Nicolay Larsson Aga et al. (2025). Evolutionary accumulation modeling in AMR: machine learning to infer and predict evolutionary dynamics of multi-drug resistance. (external link)
• Robert Clay Glastad; Iain Johnston (2025). Convergent pathways of reductive mitochondrial evolution characterized with hypercubic inference. (external link)
• Robert Clay Glastad; Iain Johnston (2023). Mitochondrial network structure controls cell-to-cell mtDNA variability generated by cell divisions. (external link)
• Iain Johnston (2019). Tension and resolution: dynamic, evolving populations of organelle genomes within plant cells. (external link)
• Clare Ziegler; Rosemary Dyson; Iain George Johnston (2019). Model selection and parameter estimation for root architecture models using likelihood-free inference. (external link)
• Amanda K. Broz; Alexandra Keene; Matheus Fernandes Gyorfy et al. (2022). Sorting of mitochondrial and plastid heteroplasmy in Arabidopsis is extremely rapid and depends on MSH1 activity. (external link)
• Olav Nicolay Larsson Aga; Morten Brun; Kazeem Adesina Dauda et al. (2024). HyperTraPS-CT: Inference and prediction for accumulation pathways with flexible data and model structures. (external link)
• Belen Garcia Pascual; Lars Moberg Salbu; Jessica Renz et al. (2024). Comparing Structure and Dynamics of Transition Graphs by the Symmetric Difference Metric Over an Edge-Filtration. (external link)
• Salva Duran-Nebreda; Iain George Johnston; George Bassel (2020). Efficient vasculature investment in tissues can be determined without global information. (external link)
• Joanna M. Chustecki; Daniel J. Gibbs; George W. Bassel et al. (2021). Network analysis of Arabidopsis mitochondrial dynamics reveals a resolved tradeoff between physical distribution and social connectivity. (external link)
• Iain George Johnston; Joerg Burgstaller (2019). Evolving mtDNA populations within cells. (external link)
• Konstantinos Giannakis; Samuel J. Arrowsmith; Luke Richards et al. (2022). Evolutionary inference across eukaryotes identifies universal features shaping organelle gene retention. (external link)
• Iain Johnston; Ramon Diaz-Uriarte (2024). A hypercubic Mk model framework for capturing reversibility in disease, cancer, and evolutionary accumulation modelling. (external link)
• Mona Synnøve Bjune; Laurence Dyer; Johnny Laupsa-Borge et al. (2023). Metabolic role of the hepatic valine/3-hydroxyisobutyrate (3-HIB) pathway in fatty liver disease. (external link)
• Ana Victoria Lechuga-Vieco; Ana Latorre-Pellicer; Iain Johnston et al. (2020). Cell identity and nucleo-mitochondrial genetic context modulate OXPHOS performance and determine somatic heteroplasmy dynamics. (external link)
• Iain Johnston; Kamaludin Dingle; Sam Greenbury et al. (2022). Symmetry and simplicity spontaneously emerge from the algorithmic nature of evolution. (external link)
• David Edwards; Ellen Christine Røyrvik; Joanne Chustecki et al. (2021). Avoiding organelle mutational meltdown across eukaryotes with or without a germline bottleneck. (external link)
• Robert Peach; Sam Greenbury; Iain George Johnston et al. (2021). Understanding learner behaviour in online courses with Bayesian modelling and time series characterisation. (external link)
• Iain George Johnston (2019). Regulation of Mother-to-Offspring Transmission of mtDNA Heteroplasmy. (external link)
• Konstantinos Giannakis; Joanna M. Chustecki; Iain George Johnston (2022). Exchange on dynamic encounter networks allows plant mitochondria to collect complete sets of mitochondrial DNA products despite their incomplete genomes. (external link)
• Ellen Christine Røyrvik; Iain Johnston (2020). MtDNA sequence features associated with 'selfish genomes' predict tissue-specific segregation and reversion. (external link)
• Konstantinos Giannakis; Luke Richards; Kazeem Adesina Dauda et al. (2024). Connecting Species-Specific Extents of Genome Reduction in Mitochondria and Plastids. (external link)
• Rajneesh Kumar; Iain Johnston (2024). ATP dependence of decision-making capacity in a fine-grained model of gene regulatory networks. (external link)
• Iain Johnston (2024). The Nitroplast and Its Relatives Support a Universal Model of Features Predicting Gene Retention in Endosymbiont and Organelle Genomes. (external link)
• Sarah Brooke Sirota; Rose Grace Bender; Regina-Mae Villanueva Dominguez et al. (2025). Global burden of lower respiratory infections and aetiologies, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023. (external link)
• Iain George Johnston; Ellen Christine Røyrvik (2020). Data-Driven Inference Reveals Distinct and Conserved Dynamic Pathways of Tool Use Emergence across Animal Taxa. (external link)
• Iain George Johnston (2019). Varied mechanisms and models for the varying mitochondrial bottleneck. (external link)
• Belen Garcia Pascual; Jan Martin Nordbotten; Iain Johnston (2023). Cellular and environmental dynamics influence species-specific extents of organelle gene retention. (external link)
• Iain Johnston; George Bassel (2018). Identification of a bet-hedging network motif generating noise in hormone concentrations and germination propensity in Arabidopsis. (external link)
• Ryan Kerr; Sara Jabbari; Jessica Blair et al. (2022). Dynamic Boolean modelling reveals the influence of energy supply on bacterial efflux pump expression. (external link)
• Rajneesh Kumar; Iain Johnston (2025). Estimating physical conditions supporting gradients of ATP concentration in the eukaryotic cell. (external link)
• Katie Stevens; Iain Johnston; Estrella Luna (2023). Data science approaches provide a roadmap to understanding the role of abscisic acid in defence. (external link)
• Ramon Diaz-Uriarte; Iain Johnston (2025). A Picture Guide to Cancer Progression and Evolutionary Accumulation Models: Systematic Critique, Plausible Interpretations, and Alternative Uses. (external link)
• Jennifer Lee Erickson; Jennifer Prautsch; Frisine Reynvoet et al. (2023). Stromule Geometry Allows Optimal Spatial Regulation of Organelle Interactions in the Quasi-2D Cytoplasm. (external link)
• Ryan Kerr; Sara Jabbari; Iain Johnston (2019). Intracellular Energy Variability Modulates Cellular Decision-Making Capacity. (external link)
• Konstantinos Giannakis; Luke Richards; Iain Johnston (2024). Ecological Predictors of Organelle Genome Evolution: Phylogenetic Correlations with Taxonomically Broad, Sparse, Unsystematized Data. (external link)

Letter to the editor

• Iain Johnston; Kamaludin Dingle; Sam F. Greenbury et al. (2022). Reply to Ocklenburg and Mundorf: The interplay of developmental bias and natural selection. (external link)

Conference poster

• Rajneesh Kumar; Iain George Johnston (2023). Population Dynamics in Response to Environmental Stimuli. (external link)
• Rajneesh Kumar; Iain George Johnston (2023). Stochastic and Deterministic Computation in the regulation of Decision – Making Genetic circuits by Energy Availability.. (external link)

Academic literature review

• Daphné Autran; George W. Bassel; Eunyoung Chae et al. (2021). What is quantitative plant biology?. (external link)
• Joanna M. Chustecki; Iain George Johnston (2023). Collective mitochondrial dynamics resolve conflicting cellular tensions: From plants to general principles. (external link)
• Shibani Veeraragavan; Maria Johansen; Iain Johnston (2024). Evolution and maintenance of mtDNA gene content across eukaryotes. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Iain's publications can be found on Google Scholar here or ORCID here .

The CRIStin profile below is currently being updated.

MitoPhyto (NFR FRIPRO) -- mitochondria across species

TRUST-AI4D (Trond Mohn) -- diabetes disease progression

HyperEvol (Trond Mohn) -- learning pathways of antimicrobial resistance evolution

EvoConBiO (ERC StG) -- evolution and control of bioenergetic organelles

CAMRIA (Trond Mohn) -- combatting antimicrobial resistance with interdisciplinary approaches

QUINTUS (UK NERC) -- responses of forest ecosystems to elevated CO2

HyperTraPS (Alan Turing Institute) -- inferring pathways of evolution and disease progression

Iain also supervises researchers on projects funded by the UK BBSRC and Wellcome Trust, working on plant mitochondria, seed germination, and antimicrobial resistance.