Donald D.
Brown
Donald David Brown
(December 30, 1931 – Donald D. Brown
May 31, 2023) was an Born December 30, 1931
American biologist[1] Cincinnati, Ohio
and one of the founders Died May 31, 2023 (aged 91)
of molecular Woodbrook, Baltimore County, Maryland
embryology.[2]
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Chicago Medical School
Early life Awards NAS Award in Molecular Biology (1973)
Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1985)
Brown was born in E.B. Wilson Medal (1996)
Cincinnati, Ohio, to Dr. Developmental Biology-SDB Lifetime Achievement Award (2009)
Albert Brown, an Scientific career
ophthalmologist, and Fields Embryology, biology
Louise Rauh. [2][3]
Institutions Carnegie Institution for Science
Johns Hopkins University
Education
Brown attended Dartmouth College.[3] In 1956, he received an MD and MS from University of Chicago
Medical School, writing his master's thesis on the mechanism of viral invasion.[4][2]
Career
After a year working as an intern at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Brown began a two year fellowship
with the National Institutes of Health the direction of neuroscientist Seymour Kety.[4][2] In 1959, he
conducted postdoctoral studies with Jacques Monod at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France.[4]
Brown joined the Carnegie Institution in Baltimore, Maryland in 1961. He initially joined the Department
of Embryology as a staff scientist.[3] In 1976, he became director of the department. Beginning in 1969,
he was an adjunct professor of biology at Johns Hopkins. He was a member of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.[1][5][6]
Brown retired from the Carnegie Institution with emeritus status in 2005.[2]
Discoveries
Brown and John Gurdon found that certain frog mutants lacked nucleoli and thus did not produce
ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), indicating that nucleoli were the site of rRNA production. Later, Brown and
Igor Dawid investigated why frog oocytes contained many more nucleoli than did somatic cells. They
showed that the number of rDNA genes was amplified during oogenesis to support ribosome production
needed for each oocyte (this discovery was independently made by Joseph Gall).[2] After Max Birnstiel
managed to isolate rDNA genes, Brown was the first who purified the genes encoding the smaller 5S
rRNA genes and found a way to transcribe them in vitro. In fact, 5S rRNA genes were the first eukaryotic
genes to be cloned. Brown and Robert Roeder found later that transcription of these genes was regulated
by a transcription factor (TFIIIA) that binds within the gene.[2]
Awards
NAS Award in Molecular Biology (1973)
Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1985)
E.B. Wilson Medal (1996)
Lifetime Achievement Award (2009) (Developmental Biology-SDB)
References
1. "Donald David Brown" (https://www.amacad.org/person/donald-david-brown). American
Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
2. McKnight, Steven; Spradling, Allan (2023-07-14). "Donald D. Brown (1931–2023)" (https://d
oi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.adj2815). Science. 381 (6654): 128.
Bibcode:2023Sci...381..128M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023Sci...381..128M).
doi:10.1126/science.adj2815 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.adj2815). ISSN 0036-
8075 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0036-8075). PMID 37440618 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nl
m.nih.gov/37440618).
3. "Donald David Brown, leader at Baltimore's Carnegie Institution for Science and mentor to
scientists, dies" (https://www.baltimoresun.com/obituaries/bs-md-ob-donald-brown-2023060
8-adi6fugdzbfh3dr7tuuz7jg6dm-story.html). Baltimore Sun. 2023-06-08. Retrieved
2023-07-13.
4. "Donald D. Brown receives 2009 Life Achievement Award" (http://www.sdbonline.org/sites/A
wards/Brown-Life09.pdf) (PDF). Society for Developmental Biology. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
5. "Donald D. Brown" (http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/57335.html).
www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
6. "APS Member History" (https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Donald+D.+B
rown&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=adva
nced). search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Donald_D._Brown&oldid=1246258508"
