Brown, Adam, Dr

Dr Adam Brown

School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering

Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor)

Deputy Director of Research (CBE) – Commercialisation

adam.brown@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 7608

Room G54, Sir Robert Hadfield Building

Full contact details

Dr Adam Brown
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Room G54
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
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S1 3JD

Profile

I was appointed as Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Biopharmaceutical Engineering in 2018, and subsequently as Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in 2021.

My research group is focussed on rapid development of useful technologies that can be directly applied to improve the manufacture and performance of biopharmaceuticals. Specifically, we engineer new mammalian biological ‘components’ (e.g. nucleic acid constructs, cell and enzyme biocatalysts) that enhance the yield/quality of mRNA, DNA, cell, and viral vector products. Utilising bioinformatics, modelling, biodesign and high-throughput screening platforms, we work with biotechnology companies worldwide to provide solutions to complex bioengineering challenges. Our technologies have been translated into the ‘real-world’ via both successful bioindustrial collaborations and commercialisation activities (SynGenSys, SilViA).

Examples of recently developed technologies:

RNA polymerases for mRNA manufacture
Immunosuppressive nucleic acid constructs for DNA-based gene therapies
DNA and mRNA control switches for biomanufacturing and gene therapy applications.
Synthetic promoters for cell and gene therapies
Platform for CHO and HEK cell factory re-design/rescue
Signal peptides for cell and gene therapy products
Cell-based platform for mRNA production
DNA elements that enhance duration of plasmid gene therapies

Research interests

Biopharmacuetical production
DNA and mRNA design
Mammalian cell factory engineering
Genetic expression vector engineering

Publications

Journal articles

Curry E, Sedelnikova S, Rafferty J, Hulley M, Pohle M, Muir G & Brown A (2024) . Biotechnology Journal, 19(6).
O’Neill P, Mistry RK, Brown AJ & James DC (2023) . ACS Synthetic Biology, 12(8), 2339-2352.
Johari YB, Scarrott JM, Pohle TH, Liu P, Mayer A, Brown AJ & James DC (2022) . Biotechnology Journal.
Johnson AO, Fowler SB, Webster CI, Brown AJ & James DC (2022) . ACS Synthetic Biology, 11(4), 1613-1626.
Patel YD, Brown AJ, Zhu J, Rosignoli G, Gibson SJ, Hatton D & James DC (2021) . ACS Synth Biol.
Johari YB, Mercer AC, Liu Y, Brown AJ & James DC (2021) . Biotechnol Bioeng.
Cartwright JF, Arnall CL, Patel YD, Barber NOW, Lovelady CS, Rosignoli G, Harris CL, Dunn S, Field RP, Dean G , Daramola O et al (2020) . Journal of Biotechnology, 312, 11-22.
Johari YB, Brown AJ, Alves CS, Zhou Y, Wright CM, Estes SD, Kshirsagar R & James DC (2019) . Journal of Biotechnology.
Brown AJ, Gibson SJ, Hatton D, Arnall CL & James DC (2019) . Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 116(2), 375-387.
Brown AJ, Gibson SJ, Hatton D & James DC (2017) . Nucleic Acids Research, 45(18), 10906-10919.
Brown AJ, Gibson S, Hatton D & James DC (2017) . Biotechnology Journal.
Brown AJ & James DC (2017) , 131-145.
Brown AJ & James DC (2016) . Biotechnology Advances, 34(5), 492-503.
Brown AJ, Sweeney B, Mainwaring DO & James DC (2015) . Biotechnology Journal, 10(7), 1019-1028.
Brown AJ, Sweeney B, Mainwaring DO & James DC (2014) . Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 111(8), 1638-1647.
Brown AJ, Mainwaring DO, Sweeney B & James DC (2013) . Analytical Biochemistry, 443(2), 205-210.
Curry E, Muir G, Qu J, Kis Z, Hulley M, Brown A & Brown A () . Biotechnology and Bioengineering.
Sou SN, Harris CL, Williams R, Kozub D, Zurlo F, Patel YD, Kallamvalli Illam Sankaran P, Daramola O, Brown A, James DC , Hatton D et al () . Biotechnology Progress.
Johari YB, Jaffé SRP, Scarrott JM, Johnson AO, Mozzanino T, Pohle TH, Maisuria S, Bhayat‐Cammack A, Lambiase G, Brown AJ , Tee KL et al () . Biotechnology and Bioengineering.

Chapters

(2017) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA
Brown AJ, Kalsi D, Fernandez-Martell A, Cartwright J, Barber NOW, Patel YD, Turner R, Bryant CL, Johari YB & James DC () , Methods and Principles in Medicinal Chemistry (pp. 423-467). Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA

Patents

Brown AJ, James DC, Gibson SJ & Hatton D (2018) In silico design of mammalian promoters with user-defined functionality. WO 2018/193072 A1 Appl. 25 Oct 2018.
James DC & Brown AJ (2015) Synthetic promoters for CHO cells, methods of producing synthetic promoters using transcription factor binding site modules. WO2015079053-A2; WO2015079053-A3 Appl. 08 Oct 2015.
James DC & Brown AJ (2014) Regulating recombinant gene expression in vitro comprises providing a host cell encoding recombinant genes for expression, and contacting the cell with an exonuclease resistant block decoy. WO2014202640-A1 Appl. 24 Dec 2014.

Preprints

Alexandru-Crivac CN, Cartwright JF, Taylor R, Sweeney BM, Feary M, Chathoth KT, Fabian DK, Allsopp H, Brown AJ & James DC (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Curry E, Muir G, Qu J, Kis Z, Hulley M & Brown A (2023) , Authorea, Inc..
O’Neill P, Mistry RK, Brown AJ & James DC (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Johari YB, Jaffé SRP, Scarrott JM, Johnson AO, Mozzanino T, Pohle TH, Maisuria S, Bhayat-Cammack A, Brown AJ, Tee KL , Jackson PJ et al () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Grants: My lab is currently utilising research funding from UKRI and bioindustry (e.g., AstraZeneca, Lonza, CGTC, Takeda) to engineer synthetic biological components for i) enhanced production of therapeutic proteins, nucleic acids and viral vectors, and ii) improved in vivo performance of ATMPs.

Teaching interests: My teaching is focussed on equipping students with the knowledge and skills required to develop new biotechnologies that have real world applications. I lead a Y4UG/PGR module on Biopharmaceutical Engineering (CPE442/CPE6044) and supervise 4th Year BioEng/ChemEng and MSc research projects (CPE440/CPE6011).

Teaching activities: I currently lead a module on Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing (CPE336/CPE6043), and supervise 4th Year BioEng/ChemEng and MSc research projects (CPE440/CPE6011). Awards: Commendation for Teaching Excellence - 2015-16, 2016-17, 2018-19; Best Lecturer (Level 3) – 2019/20

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School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering

School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering

Dr Adam Brown

Journal articles

Chapters

Patents

Preprints

Links