Dr. Brown’s lab researchers are currently studying cell wall and ribosome biogenesis, both daunting cellular processes of remarkable complexity. Further, Dr. Brown oversees an ambitious effort in chemical genomics aimed at mapping and understanding the interaction of drug-like small molecules with bacterial cell systems.

Currently, the Brown’s lab has mounted research projects in areas of bacterial physiology of emerging importance in antibacterial drug discovery.

Dr. Brown earned his Ph.D. in 1992 in Biochemistry studying of proline utilization in bacteria at the University of Guelph. Dr. Brown then spent 2 years as a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellow in at Harvard Medical School researching bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. Dr. Brown worked for three years in the Boston pharmaceutical sector with Myco Pharmaceuticals and Astra Research Center Boston before joining the Department of Biochemistry at McMaster in 1998 and receiving a Medical Research Council of Canada Scholarship.

Dr. Brown has been the recipient of a variety of investigator awards including a Canada Research Chair in Chemical Biology and the Merck Frosst Prize.