Dennis T Brown

About

Dennis T Brown is the William Neal Reynolds Professor at NC State University, specializing in the structure, function, and assembly of the model membrane containing the Sindbis virus. His laboratory investigates the complex structure of alphaviruses, which are transmitted by blood-sucking insects and composed of multiple proteins forming two icosahedral shells with an intervening membrane bilayer. His research aims to determine the high-resolution structure of the virus using Electron Cryo-Microscopy, complemented by biophysical and biochemical analyses to verify morphological data. Brown's work includes elucidating the pathway of virus component folding and assembly within infected cells, focusing on the disulfide bridging of membrane glycoproteins and their integration into the mature virion. His approach combines molecular and cellular biology techniques, molecular cloning, and site-directed mutagenesis to understand virus assembly processes.

Research topics

• Virology
• Biology
• Microbiology
• Crystallography
• Nanotechnology
• Chemistry
• Condensed matter physics
• Physics
• Materials science
• Biochemistry

Selected publications

• Alphavirus Genome Delivery Occurs Directly at the Plasma Membrane in a Time- and Temperature-Dependent Process

  Journal of Virology · 2013-02-07 · 43 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  It is widely held that arboviruses such as the alphavirus Sindbis virus gain entry into cells by a process of receptor-mediated endocytosis followed by membrane fusion in the acid environment of the endosome. We have used an approach of direct observation of Sindbis virus entry into cells by electron microscopy and immunolabeling of virus proteins with antibodies conjugated to gold beads. We found that upon attaching to the cell surface, intact RNA-containing viruses became empty shells that cou…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Chikungunya Virus Host Range E2 Transmembrane Deletion Mutants Induce Protective Immunity against Challenge in C57BL/6J Mice

  Journal of Virology · 2013-04-04 · 30 citations

  articleOpen access

  A vaccine against Chikungunya virus (ChikV), a reemerging pathogenic arbovirus, has been made by attenuating wild-type (WT) virus via truncation of the transmembrane domain (TMD) of E2 and selecting for host range (HR) mutants. Mice are a standard model system for ChikV disease and display the same symptoms of the disease seen in humans. Groups of mice were inoculated with one of three ChikV HR mutants to determine the ability of each mutant strain to elicit neutralizing antibody and protective…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Structural Differences Observed in Arboviruses of the Alphavirus and Flavivirus Genera

  Advances in Virology · 2014-01-01 · 28 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Arthropod borne viruses have developed a complex life cycle adapted to alternate between insect and vertebrate hosts. These arthropod-borne viruses belong mainly to the families Togaviridae, Flaviviridae, and Bunyaviridae. This group of viruses contains many pathogens that cause febrile, hemorrhagic, and encephalitic disease or arthritic symptoms which can be persistent. It has been appreciated for many years that these viruses were evolutionarily adapted to function in the highly divergent cell…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Espirito Santo Virus: a New Birnavirus That Replicates in Insect Cells

  Journal of Virology · 2011-12-15 · 25 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Espirito Santo virus (ESV) is a newly discovered virus recovered as contamination in a sample of a virulent strain of dengue-2 virus (strain 44/2), which was recovered from a patient in the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil, and amplified in insect cells. ESV was found to be dependent upon coinfection with a virulent strain of dengue-2 virus and to replicate in C6/36 insect cells but not in mammalian Vero cells. A sequence of the genome has been produced by de novo assembly and was not found to ma…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Flavivirus infection from mosquitoes in vitro reveals cell entry at the plasma membrane

  Virology · 2012-10-23 · 21 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01AI014710

  NIH · $991k · 1997

• NIH Grant R01DK042956

  NIH · $4.3M · 2008

• NIH Grant R37DK042956

  NIH · $4.0M · 2018

Frequent coauthors

• Raquel Hernandez

  42 shared

• Sylvie Breton

  Massachusetts General Hospital

  21 shared

• Ivan Sabolić

  University Hospital Centre Zagreb

  17 shared

• Davis Ferreira

  Duke University Hospital

  16 shared

• Carol M. Herak–Kramberger

  Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health

  14 shared

• Winnie Shum

  Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science

  13 shared

• Jean‐Marc Verbavatz

  Université Paris Cité

  12 shared

• Dennis A. Ausiello

  Center for Assessment

  12 shared

Labs

• Molecular and Structural BiochemistryPI

Education

• Ph.D, Molecular Biology

  University of Pennsylvania

  1967

• BA, Biology/Chemistry

  University of Pennsylvania

  1964

Similar researchers at North Carolina State University

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• Anastasios A Tsiatish-80
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