Brian D Brown, PhD
- DIRECTOR, ICAHN GENOMICS INSTITUTE
- ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF THE PRECISION IMMUNOLOGY INSTITUTE
- PROFESSOR | Genetics and Genomic Sciences
- PROFESSOR | Dermatology
Research Topics:
Antigen Presentation, Autoimmunity, Cancer, Cellular Immunity, Dendritic Cells, Gene Discovery, Gene Expressions, Gene Regulation, Gene Therapy, Gene editing, Genomics, Immunological Tolerance, Immunology, Inflammation, Macrophage, Molecular Biology, RNA, RNA Splicing & Processing, Stem Cells, T Cells, Tolerance, Transcriptional Activation and RepressionDr. Brian Brown is an immunologist and molecular biologist whose research has a strong focus on biotechnology and therapeutics. His training began with his doctoral studies in Canada and his work to establish ways to overcome the immune response hindering gene therapy. He subsequently did his postdoctoral studies in Italy where he helped develop a new platform for controlling gene expression, which has led to improvements in experimental treatments for genetic disease, cancer, and viral infection. Dr. Brown's lab is now working to identify the factors that control immunity and tolerance, and translate these findings in to strategies that can be used to turn the immune system against cancer or viruses. In 2008 Dr. Brown joined the faculty of Mount Sinai he was promoted to full Professor with tenure in 2018. In 2016 he became the Associate Director of Mount Sinai's Precision Immunology Institute (PrIISM) and in 2021 he was named Director of the Icahn Genomics Institute (IGI).
Visit the Brown Lab homepage at:
http://www.thebrownlab.org/
Multi-Disciplinary Training Areas
Genetics and Genomic Sciences [GGS], Immunology [IMM]Education
BSc, University of Guelph
Fellowship, San Raffaele Scientific Institute
PhD, Queen's University
Specific Clinical/Research Interests:
Immunology; Cancer; Inflammation; Innate Immunity; Biotechnology; Molecular Biology; Gene Regulation;
Summary of Research Studies:
A major focus of our work is aimed at identifying factors that control immunity and tolerance, and utilizing this information for developing therapeutic strategies that can direct antigen-specific immune responses. We helped to identify some of the transcriptional programs that regulate dendritic cell differentiation and function (Miller et al. Nat Immunol 2012), and we discovered a pathway controlling the innate response to nucleic acids, which involves the microRNA miR-126, and the main VEGF receptor, VEGFR2 (Agudo et al. Nat Immunol 2014). We are now using a new technology we developed, called the Jedi, to probe the interactions between T cells and tissues at a granular level, and learning how the tissue controls immune responses (Agudo et al. Nat Biotech 2015). This work has important implications for the development of autoimmunity as well as cancer immunology.
Our lab also has a strong emphasis in the generation of new technologies for experimental and therapeutic applications. We led the development of a novel gene targeting technology, which is now widely used for enhancing vector and virus-based drugs in applications ranging from the treatment of genetic diseases to cancer therapy to viral vaccines (Brown et al. Nat Med 2006, Brown et al. Nat Biotech 2007, Brown and Naldini. Nat Rev Gen 2009). We also developed the first genome-wide technology to measure miRNA activity and function at single cell resolution (Mullokandov, Baccarini, Ruzo et al. Nat Meth 2012), and aided in the invention of an improved method for deep sequencing small RNAs (Jayaprakash et al. Nucl Acid Res 2011). We helped develop a new platform for predicting the immune systems response to 100s of drugs (Kidd, Wroblewska et al. Nat Biotech. 2016).
Postdoctoral and graduate projects are available involving: (i) cancer immunology and immunotherapeutics, (ii) the discovery of novel gene expression networks in the immune system, and (iii) the development of novel technologies and therapeutics.
Salmon H, Idoyaga J, Rahman A, Leboeuf M, Remark R, Jordan S, Casanova-Acebes M, Khudoynazarova M, Agudo J, Tung N, Chakarov S, Rivera C, Hogstad B, Bosenberg M, Hashimoto D, Gnjatic S, Bhardwaj N, Palucka AK, Brown BD, Brody J, Ginhoux F, Merad M. Expansion and Activation of CD103(+) Dendritic Cell Progenitors at the Tumor Site Enhances Tumor Responses to Therapeutic PD-L1 and BRAF Inhibition. Immunity 2016 Apr; 44(4).
Agudo J, Brown BD. Silence of the ROS. Immunity 2016 Mar; 44(3).
Brown BD, Merad M. Authorship: Archives and citation miss equal authors. Nature 2015 Dec; 528(7582).
Mulero-Navarro S, Sevilla A, Roman AC, Lee DF, D'Souza SL, Pardo S, Riess I, Su J, Cohen N, Schaniel C, Rodriguez NA, Baccarini A, Brown BD, Cavé H, Caye A, Strullu M, Yalcin S, Park CY, Dhandapany PS, Yongchao G, Edelmann L, Bahieg S, Raynal P, Flex E, Tartaglia M, Moore KA, Lemischka IR, Gelb BD. Myeloid Dysregulation in a Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Model of PTPN11-Associated Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia. Cell Reports 2015 Oct 20; 13(3): 504-15.
Miller JC, Brown BD, Shay T, Gautier EL, Jojic V, Cohain A, Pandey G, Leboeuf M, Elpek KG, Helft J, Hashimoto D, Chow A, Price J, Greter M, Bogunovic M, Bellemare-Pelletier A, Frenette PS, Randolph GJ, Turley SJ, Merad M. Deciphering the transcriptional network of the dendritic cell lineage. Nature Immunology 2012 Sep; 13(9).
Mullokandov G *, Baccarini A *, Ruzo A *, Jayaprakash AD, Tung N, Israelow B, Evans MJ, Sachidanandam R, Brown BD. High-throughput assessment of microRNA activity and function using microRNA sensor and decoy libraries. Nature Methods 2012 Aug; 9(8).
Baccarini A, Chauhan H, Gardner TJ, Jayaprakash AD, Sachidanandam R, Brown BD. Kinetic analysis reveals the fate of a microRNA following target regulation in mammalian cells. Current Biology 2011 Mar; 21(5).
Chow A, Brown BD, Merad M. Studying the mononuclear phagocyte system in the molecular age. Nature Reviews Immunology 2011 Nov; 11(11).
Brown BD, Naldini L. Exploiting and antagonizing microRNA regulation for therapeutic and experimental applications. Nature Reviews Genetics 2009 Aug; 10(8).
Gentner B, Schira G, Giustacchini A, Amendola M, Brown BD, Ponzoni M, Naldini L. Stable knockdown of microRNA in vivo by lentiviral vectors. Nature Methods 2009 Jan; 6(1): 63-66.
Brown BD, Gentner B, Cantore A, Colleoni S, Amendola M, Zingale A, Baccarini A, Lazzari G, Galli C, Naldini L. Endogenous microRNA can be broadly exploited to regulate transgene expression according to tissue, lineage and differentiation state. Nature Biotechnology 2007 Dec; 25(12): 1457-1467.
Brown BD, Cantore A, Annoni A, Sergi LS, Lombardo A, Della Valle P, D'Angelo A, Naldini L, Galli C, Naldini L. A microRNA-regulated lentiviral vector mediates stable correction of hemophilia B mice. Blood 2007 Aug; 110(13): 4144-4152.
Brown BD, Sitia G, Annoni A, Hauben E, Sergi LS, Zingale A, Roncarolo MG, Guidotti L, Naldini L. In vivo administration of lentiviral vectors triggers a type I interferon response that restricts hepatocyte gene transfer and promotes vector clearance. Blood 2007 April; 109(7): 2797-2805.
Brown BD, Venneri MA, Zingale A, Sergi Sergi L, Naldini L. Endogenous microRNA regulation suppresses transgene expression in hematopoietic lineages and enables stable gene transfer. Nature Medicine 2006 May; 12(5): 585-591.
Physicians and scientists on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai often interact with pharmaceutical, device and biotechnology companies to improve patient care, develop new therapies and achieve scientific breakthroughs. In order to promote an ethical and transparent environment for conducting research, providing clinical care and teaching, Mount Sinai requires that salaried faculty inform the School of their relationships with such companies.
Below are financial relationships with industry reported by Dr. Brown during 2022 and/or 2023. Please note that this information may differ from information posted on corporate sites due to timing or classification differences.
Consulting:
- Leason Ellis LLP
Royalty Payments:
- Immunai; Perkin Elmer
Mount Sinai's faculty policies relating to faculty collaboration with industry are posted on our website. Patients may wish to ask their physician about the activities they perform for companies.