Dennis Brown is a Ph. D. cell biologist who specializes in the use of state-of-the art fluorescence imaging and electron microscopy techniques to follow and dissect physiologically-relevant membrane protein trafficking events in epithelial and non-epithelial cells. He serves as the Associate Director of the CSB and the Director of the MGH Program in Membrane Biology (PMB) which uses use state of the art technologies in the pursuit of important biological questions at the system level. He became Professor of Medicine at Harvard in 2001 and has been at MGH since 1985.
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.