Dennis Brown

Dennis Brown, Ph.D. is the director of the MGH Program in Membrane Biology at Harvard Medical School.

The theme of the laboratory (Program in Membrane Biology, PMB) is to understand how membrane transport vesicles interact with accessory proteins (GTPases, SNAREs, kinases) and with the cytoskeleton (microtubules, actin, and PDZ proteins) to modulate cell function via various membrane transport proteins in physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Experimental models used range from in vitro systems using purified proteins and membrane vesicles (endosomes, Golgi, plasma membrane), to transfected cell cultures, to whole animal models including transgenic mice. All projects are interactive and involve cell biological procedures such as confocal and EM-gold immunocytochemistry, real time confocal and TIRF microscopy. In addition, molecular and biochemical procedures are combined with cell biology to provide a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving. The aim of the research is to understand how physiologically-relevant processes of fluid and electrolyte transport across epithelia are regulated at the cell and molecular levels in kidney, the male reproductive tract and other organ systems.