Taylor Brown
Entering Class 2020
PhD 2024
PhD Thesis
Astrocyte pathophysiology in Huntington’s disease.
Pronouns: she/her
Member of MSTP (MD/PhD) program
E-MAIL: [email protected]
Undergraduate Institution and Major:
Villanova University, B.S. in Biochemistry and Neuroscience, 2018
Graduate Advisor:
Rocio Gomez Pastor, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience
Graduate Publications:
- Striatal spatial heterogeneity, clustering, and white matter association of GFAP+ astrocytes in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. Front Cell Neurosci. 2023 Apr 28;17:1094503.
- Mansky RH, Greguske EA, Yu D, Zarate N, Intihar TA, Tsai W, Brown TG, Thayer MN, Kumar K, Gomez-Pastor R. Tumor suppressor p53 regulates heat shock factor 1 protein degradation in Huntington's disease. Cell Rep. 2023; 42:112198.
- Brown JL, Hart DW, Boyle GE, Brown TG, LaCroix M, Baraibar AM, Pelzel R, Kim M, Sherman MA, Boes S, Sung M, Cole T, Lee MK, Araque A, Lesné SE. SNCA genetic lowering reveals differential cognitive function of alpha-synuclein dependent on sex. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2022; 10:180.
- Brown TG, Chen L. Neuropathology of Huntington’s Disease. IntechOpen. 2022 Sept 9. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.106664.
- Yu D, Zarate N, Cuccu F, Yue JS, Brown TG, Tsai A, Mansky R, Jiang K, Kim H, Nanclares C, Nichols-Meade T, Larson SN, Gundry K, Zhang Z, Benneyworth M, Öz G, Cvetanovic M, Araque A, Gomez Pastor R. CK2 alpha prime and alpha-synuclein pathogenic functional interaction mediates synaptic dysregulation in Huntington’s disease. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2022;10:83.
Graduate Presentations:
GFAP+ astrocytes in Huntington’s disease. Villanova University Cognitive and Behavioral Science Capstone. February 20, 2024. Invited Oral Presentation.
GFAP+ astrocytes in the zQ175 mouse model of Huntington’s disease and their translatability in human pathology. Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Grand Rounds. December 6, 2023. Oral Presentation.
Striatal astrocytes and their association with white matter dysregulation in Huntington’s disease. Graduate Program in Neuroscience Colloquium. December 14, 2022. Oral Presentation.
The spatial significance of GFAP+ astrocytes in Huntington’s disease. Medical Scientist Training Program Monthly Meeting. October 17, 2022. Oral Presentation.
Spatial analysis of striatal astrocyte subtypes in Huntington’s disease. Graduate Program in Neuroscience Retreat. January 29, 2022. Virtual. Oral Presentation.
Brown TG. An 8-year-old female presents with sudden onset seizures and altered mental status. MSTP Grand Rounds. Oct 27, 2021. Virtual. Oral Presentation.
Brown TG. Striatal Compartmentalization and clustering of different subtypes of astrocytes is altered in Huntington’s disease. Expanded Repeat Disorders. June 16, 2021. Virtual. Rapid Fire Video Presentation.
Graduate Awards/Honors
ITN / MnDRIVE Brain Conditions Research Retreat Poster Award, 2024
Sping and Ying Ngoh Lin Award, 2023
American Legion Brain Sciences Award, 2023
Hemsley Fellowship to attend Advanced Techniques in Molecular Neuroscience 2022, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2022
Morris Smithberg Memorial Prize, University of Minnesota, 2022
Thesis Committee
Marija Cvetanovic, PhD (chair), Department of Neuroscience
Rocio Gomez-Pastor, PhD (advisor), Department of Neuroscience
Yasushi Nakagawa, MD PhD, Department of Neuroscience
Alfonso Araque, PhD, Department of Neuroscience
Paulo Kofuji, PhD, Department of Neuroscience
Undergraduate Publications:
- Brown TG, Xu J, Hurd YL, Pan YX. Dysregulated expression of the alternatively spliced variant mRNAs of the mu opioid receptor gene, OPRM1, in the medial prefrontal cortex of male human heroin abusers and heroin self-administering male rats. J Neurosci Res. 2020 Jun 7:10.1002/jnr.24640.
- Xu J, Lu Z, Narayan A, Le Rouzic VP, Xu M, Hunkele A, Brown TG, Hoefer WF, Rossi GC, Rice RC, Martínez-Rivera A, Rajadhyaksha AM, Cartegni L, Bassoni DL, Pasternak GW, Pan YX.Alternatively spliced mu opioid receptor C termini impact the diverse actions of morphine. J Clin Invest. 2017 Apr 3;127(4):1561-1573.
- Xu J, Xu M, Brown T, Rossi GC, Hurd YL, Inturrisi CE, Pasternak GW, Pan YXStabilization of the μ-opioid receptor by truncated single transmembrane splice variants through a chaperone-like action. J Biol Chem. 2013 Jul 19;288(29):21211-21227.
