Thomas L. Brown

Research Interests:
Cell death (apoptosis)

Apoptosis is an evolutionarily-conserved, normal physiologic process that occurs to maintain homeostasis. The majority of human diseases have an altered cell death program that can result in to much (autoimmune, neurological disorders) or to little cell death (cancer). We are looking at therapeutics designed to specifically control the apoptosis process.

Cancer - Overcoming tumor resistance

In the early stages of cancer, tumorigenic cells routinely undergo physiologic cell death as a normal means to control its spread; however, over time cancer cells can often become resistant to the normal induction of apoptosis. Examining how to sensitize chemotherapeutic resistance may lead to new insights in the fight against cancer.

Oxygen regulation and placental differentiation

Many pregnancy-associated disorders (such as preeclampsia) stem from abnormal placental development. Babies born from these pregnancies are at increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and stroke later in life. Placental stem cells grow in very low levels of oxygen and differentiate as oxygen levels rise during development. We are using state of the art gene targeting approaches to investigate the role of oxygen in placental stem cell differentiation.

Our understanding of the cellular and molecular events that control apoptosis and differentiation may contribute to future treatments for numerous diseases and pregnancy associated disorders.