Andrea Brand facts for kids

Andrea Hilary Brand, born on March 9, 1959, is a leading scientist. She is a professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge. She also works at the Gurdon Institute, where she leads a team. Her team studies how the nervous system develops. Dr. Brand is famous for creating the GAL4/UAS system with Norbert Perrimon. This system is a powerful tool for scientists. It helps them study genes in fruit flies. It has been called "a fly geneticist's Swiss army knife" because it is so useful.

Andrea Brand's Early Life and Education

Andrea Brand was born in the United States. Her father worked for the United Nations in New York. She went to the United Nations International School in New York. In 1977, she was inspired by the work of Rosalind Franklin. She moved to Britain to study biochemistry at the University of Oxford.

She studied at Oxford from 1977 to 1981. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors. After Oxford, she went to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge. She was there from 1981 to 1986. In 1986, she earned her Ph.D.

Career and Research

Postdoctoral Work and the GAL4 System

After her Ph.D., Dr. Brand did postdoctoral research at Harvard University. From 1986 to 1988, she was a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow. She worked in the Department of Biochemistry. She decided to change her focus from biochemistry to neurobiology.

In the late 1980s, Dr. Brand joined Norbert Perrimon's lab. This was in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. From 1988 to 1993, she was a Leukemia Society Special Fellow there.

It was during this time that Dr. Brand came up with the idea for the GAL4 system. This system is a clever tool for researchers. It lets them turn genes on in specific cells. They can also turn genes on at any time during development. This helps scientists study what genes and proteins do. The GAL4 system has had a huge impact on fly genetics. It can even be used to model diseases like diabetes. It does this by turning off insulin-producing cells. It has also helped scientists study diseases like Alzheimer's. This is done by making cells produce faulty proteins.

The GAL4 system is now the most cited paper in the field of Drosophila (fruit fly) research. Dr. Brand faced challenges getting her paper published. Today, the GAL4 system is central to her work. She uses it to study neural stem cells in fruit flies. These cells are similar to human neural stem cells. This research could help find treatments for diseases like Parkinson's.

Work at the Gurdon Institute

From 1993 to 2003, Dr. Brand was a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow. She worked at the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute. From 2003 to 2007, she was the Director of Research in Developmental Neurobiology there. Since 2005, she has been a Senior Group Leader. Since 2007, she has been the Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Biology. She holds this position at both the Gurdon Institute and the University of Cambridge.

During these years, Dr. Brand did important work on nervous system development. The Royal Society has called her work "pioneering." She studies the nervous system of fruit fly embryos. Her research has given new insights into neural stem cells. It also helps us understand how neurons can repair themselves after damage.

Dr. Brand found that a key protein helps control cell division. This protein also affects how strong connections between neurons are. This discovery could help find new ways to treat nerve disorders. These include diseases like Parkinson's and Huntington's disease.

She also looks for stem cells in adult fruit flies' brains. She tries to understand how genes are controlled throughout life. The goal is to learn how to guide cells. This would help them produce the right type of neuron. It would also ensure they appear in the right place at the right time. One protein, called Prospero, helps control stem cells. It guides them to produce cells that become neurons. Without Prospero, tumors can form.

Dr. Brand explains her work simply: "One goal of neurobiology research is to fix or regrow neurons. This is important after damage to the brain or spinal cord. But first, we need to understand how the nervous system is built. It is the most complex part of the human body. It has over a trillion neurons. These neurons connect precisely. They form networks that send information very fast."

She adds, "Neurons are made by special cells called stem cells. Neural stem cells divide and make more of themselves. They also create different types of neurons. Our work aims to find the genes that control these cell behaviors. If we find these genes, we might learn to make stem cells become neurons. We could also help neurons regrow when needed."

The Royal Society noted that Dr. Brand identified the first "transcriptional silencer." This is a part of DNA that turns genes off. She also created the GAL4 system. This system allows scientists to target gene expression. The GAL4 system is used in many different organisms. It has greatly influenced the study of development. It is truly "a fly geneticist's Swiss army knife."

Dr. Brand has published many scientific papers. She has written for journals like Cell and Development.

Other Activities and Contributions

Dr. Brand has been involved in many other activities. From 1999 to 2004, she was on the Scientific Advisory Board for Promega Corporation. In 2002, she was a visiting professor in Paris.

She served on the editorial board of BioEssays. She was also on committees for The Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2009, she was elected a Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. She has also been a visiting professor in Australia. She served on review panels for major research labs.

Dr. Brand is on the editorial boards of BioMed Central Biology Image Library, Fly, and Neural Development. She is a founding board member of the Rosalind Franklin Society. This group was started in 2006. She is also a patron of the Cambridge Science Festival. From 2009 to 2013, she was on the EMBO Young Investigator Programme Committee. She also served on Royal Society committees.

In 2012, Dr. Brand chaired the jury for the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize. The award went to Robert Winston's Science Experiments.

Honors and Awards

Dr. Brand has received many important honors. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). She is also a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci). She is a Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation.

In 2001, she received the Special Award of Excellence. This was at the Wellcome Biomedical Imaging Awards. She won the Hooke Medal in 2002. In 2004, she received the William Bate Hardy Prize. She became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2000. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2003. In 2010, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 2006, Dr. Brand received the Royal Society's Rosalind Franklin Award. This award recognizes excellent science. It also promotes women in science and engineering. She won for her "groundbreaking contributions" to gene regulation and neurobiology. Professor Julia Higgins, from the Royal Society, praised Dr. Brand's talent. She noted that Dr. Brand's work helps understand and treat human diseases.

Winners of the Rosalind Franklin Award must do projects to raise the profile of women in science. Dr. Brand organized two lecture series. One was for schoolchildren, and the other for university students. Both featured leading female researchers. Dr. Brand said she was "truly honoured" to receive the award. She added that she was inspired to become a molecular biologist at age 15. This was after reading about Rosalind Franklin's work on DNA.

Her nomination for the Royal Society highlighted her work. It mentioned her "pioneering work on the development of the nervous system." It also noted her use of advanced imaging techniques. She explained how cells divide unevenly. This allows neural stem cells to act like stem cells. Her early work also identified the first transcriptional silencer. And, of course, she created the GAL4 system. This system has had a major impact on developmental biology.

Personal Life

Dr. Brand has been a dancer her entire life. She learned ballet as a child. Later, she became a gymnast. She was even the team captain at Oxford University. In the mid-1980s, she took a dance workshop in Boston. She spent two weeks dancing seven hours a day. She also became friends with dancers in the company.