Staff Profile

Current Post

Senior Lecturer

Internal Responsibilities

Faculty of Medical Sciences MRes Programmes Degree Programme Director

Chair Stage 2 Biomedical Sciences Board of Examiners

Faculty of Medical Science Postgraduate Research Committee

Faculty of Medical Sciences International Recruitment Committee

External Responsibilities

Current:

External Examiner, University of Edinburgh BSc Cell Biology and Molecular Biology (2024-28)

External examiner, University of East Anglia MRes Clinical Science (2024-27)

Previous:

2020-24          External examiner, University of Aberdeen BSc Microbiology, Biotechnology and

Genetics

2017- 21         External examiner, University of Leeds BSc and MBiol BSc Medical Sciences

2017- 21         External examiner, Coventry University MSc Molecular Biology

2013-17          External examiner, Glasgow University Molecular and Cellular Biology BSc (Hons)

2010-14 BBSRC Committee C Core Panel Member

2007-13 Member, Biochemical Society Theme Panel 1 (Deputy Chair 2009-2013)

Qualifications

1992 PhD on pre-mRNA splicing with Prof. Jean Beggs (University of Edinburgh)

1988 BSc in Biochemistry (Imperial College London)

Previous Positions

2001-2007 MRC Senior Non-clinical Research Fellow (Newcastle)

1996 - 2001 Research Group Leader and Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellow (Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh).

1992 - 1996 Postdoctoral research with Prof. Peter Walter (University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco USA), studying protein targeting to the secretory pathway. During this time I held independent Fellowships from the American Cancer Society and European Molecular Biology Organisation

Memberships

Biochemical Society, Association of University Teachers

Awards

2001-2007 Medical Research Council Senior Non-Clinical Research Fellowship

1996-2000 Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Award

1995-1996 American Cancer Society (California Division) Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship

1992-1994 European Molecular Biology Organisation Long Term Fellowship

1988-1992 Wellcome Trust Prize Studentship and Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship

Faculty of Medical Sciences MRes Programmes Degree Programme Director

Chair Stage 2 Biomedical Sciences Board of Examiners

Module leader: BGM1004 (Genetics), BGM2061 (Protein Trafficking and Biological Membranes), BGM2063 (Approaches to Analysis of Genes and Genomes).

Contributor: CMB1011 (Professional and Practical Skills for Bioscientists), CMB2001 (Control of Eukaryotic Gene Expression), BGM2062 (Advanced Protein Analysis), and BGM3063 (Biochemistry of Gene Expression).

Research Interests

Specific: Ribonucleoprotein biogenesis and function, with focus on the ribosome and signal recognition particle.

General: Targeting, translocation and sorting events within the cell. Organelle function and biogenesis. Cell biology of ribonucleoprotein particles.

Funding

2002 Wellcome Trust vacation scholarship £1,160
2001-2006 Medical Research Council Senior Non-Clinical Research Fellowship £894,420
2004-2006 BBSRC Project Grant £398,873
2006-2009 BBSRC Project Grant £319,023
2007-2009 BBSRC Project Grant £476,723 (fEC cost)

• Articles

  • Cao M, Day AM, Galler M, Latimer HR, Byrne DP, Foy TW, Dwyer E, Bennett E, Palmer J, Morgan BA, Eyers PA, Veal EA. A peroxiredoxin-P38 MAPK scaffold increases MAPK activity by MAP3K-independent mechanisms. Molecular Cell 2023, 83(17), 3140-3154.e7.
  • McQuade R, Kometa S, Brown J, Bevitt D, Hall J. Research project assessments and supervisor marking: maintaining academic rigour through robust reconciliation processes. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 2020, 45(8), 1181-1191.
  • Leung E, Schneider C, Yan F, Mohi-El-Din H, Kudla G, Tuck A, Wlotzka W, Doronina VA, Bartley R, Watkins NJ, Tollervey D, Brown JD. Integrity of SRP RNA is ensured by La and the nuclear RNA quality control machinery. Nucleic Acids Research 2014, 42(16), 10698-10710.
  • Odon V, Luke GA, Roulston C, de Felipe P, Ruan L, Escuin-Ordinas H, Brown JD, Ryan MD, Sukhodub A. APE-Type Non-LTR Retrotransposons of Multicellular Organisms Encode Virus-Like 2A Oligopeptide Sequences, Which Mediate Translational Recoding during Protein Synthesis. Molecular Biology and Evolution 2013, 30(8), 1955-1965.
  • Brown JD, Day AM, Taylor SR, Tomalin LE, Morgan BA, Veal EA. A Peroxiredoxin Promotes H₂O₂ Signaling and Oxidative Stress Resistance by Oxidizing a Thioredoxin Family Protein. Cell Reports 2013, 5(5), 1425-1435.
  • Sharma P, Yan F, Doronina VA, Escuin-Ordinas H, Ryan MD, Brown JD. 2A peptides provide distinct solutions to driving stop-carry on translational recoding. Nucleic Acids Research 2012, 40(7), 3143-3151.
  • Yan F, Doronina VA, Sharma P, Brown JD. Orchestrating ribosomal activity from inside: effects of the nascent chain on the peptidyltransferase centre. Biochemical Society Transactions 2010, 38, 1576-1580.
  • de Felipe P, Luke GA, Brown JD, Ryan MD. Inhibition of 2A-mediated 'cleavage' of certain artificial polyproteins bearing N-terminal signal sequences. Biotechnology Journal 2010, 5(2), 213-223.
  • Leung E, Brown JD. Biogenesis of the signal recognition particle. Biochemical Society Transactions 2010, 38, 1093-1098.
  • Schneider C, Leung E, Brown J, Tollervey D. The N-terminal PIN domain of the exosome subunit Rrp44 harbors endonuclease activity and tethers Rrp44 to the yeast core exosome. Nucleic Acids Research 2009, 37(4), 1127-1140.
  • Doronina VA, Wu C, de Felipe P, Sachs MS, Ryan MD, Brown JD. Site-specific release of nascent chains from ribosomes at a sense codon. Molecular and Cellular Biology 2008, 28(13), 4227-4239.
  • van Nues RW, Leung E, McDonald J, Dantuluru I, Brown JD. Roles for Srp72p in assembly, nuclear export and function of the signal recognition particle. RNA Biology 2008, 5(2), 73-83.
  • Doronina VA, de Felipe P, Wu C, Sharma P, Sachs MS, Ryan MD, Brown JD. Dissection of a co-translational nascent chain separation event. Biochemical Society Transactions 2008, 36(4), 712-716.
  • van Nues RW, Brown JD. Distant Segments of Saccharomyces cerevisiae scR1 RNA Promote Assembly and Function of the Signal Recognition Particle. Journal of Molecular Biology 2007, 368(3), 677-690.
  • Ng W, Sergeyenko T, Zeng N, Brown JD, Römisch K. Characterization of the proteasome interaction with the Sec61 channel in the endoplasmic reticulum. Journal of Cell Science 2007, 120(4), 682-691.
  • Zwieb C, van Nues RW, Rosenblad MA, Brown JD, Samuelsson T. A nomenclature for all signal recognition particle RNAs. RNA 2005, 11(1), 7-13.
  • van Nues RW, Brown JD. Saccharomyces SRP RNA secondary structures: A conserved S-domain and extended Alu-domain. RNA 2004, 10(1), 75-89.
  • Blackwell C, Russell CL, Argimon S, Brown AJP, Brown JD. Protein A-tagging for purification of native macromolecular complexes from Candida albicans. Yeast 2003, 20(15), 1235-1241.
  • de Felipe P, Hughes LE, Ryan MD, Brown JD. Co-translational, Intraribosomal Cleavage of Polypeptides by the Foot-and-mouth Disease Virus 2A Peptide. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 2003, 278(13), 11441-11448.
  • Brown JD. Ribosome biogenesis: Stripping for AAAction?. Current Biology 2001, 11(17), R710-712.
  • Robb A, Brown JD. Protein transport: Two translocons are better than one. Molecular Cell 2001, 8(3), 484-486.
  • Ciufo LF, Brown JD. Nuclear export of yeast signal recognition particle lacking Srp54p via the Xpo1p/Crm1p, NES-dependent, pathway. Current Biology 2000, 10(20), 1256-1264.
  • Mason N, Ciufo LF, Brown JD. Elongation arrest is a physiologically important function of signal recognition particle. The EMBO Journal 2000, 19, 4164-4174.

• Book Chapters

  • Brown JD, Ryan MD. Ribosome "Skipping": "Stop-Carry On" or "StopGo" Translation. In: Atkins, JF; Gesteland, RF, ed. Recoding: Expansion of Decoding Rules Enriches Gene Expression. Berlin: Springer, 2010, pp.101-121.
  • Blackwell C, Brown J. The application of tandem-affinity purification to Candida albicans. In: Ronald L. Cihlar and Richard A. Calderon, ed. Candida albicans: Methods and protocols. New York: Humana Press, 2009, pp.133-148.

• Review

  • Doronina VA, Brown JD. When nonsense makes sense and vice versa: Noncanonical decoding events at stop codons in eukaryotes. Molecular Biology 2006, 40(4), 654-663.