Human Oncology & Pathogenesis Program

The Chrysothemis Brown Lab

Chrysothemis Brown, MBBS, PhD

Assistant Professor

At the Brown Lab, we’re studying how signals from the tissue environment shape the fate and function of immune cells and the mechanisms by which the immune system reciprocally regulates tissue homeostasis and host immunity. At the heart of an immune response are dendritic cells, sentinels of the immune system that are uniquely poised to regulate the balance between inflammatory immune responses and immune tolerance. We have identified novel dendritic cells and our work aims to decode the environmental cues that shape dendritic cell heterogeneity and elucidate their distinct functions in immunity, tissue homeostasis, and human disease. In the study of dendritic cells and their cross talk with immune, stromal cells and the microbiome, the scope of our research extends across three distinct yet complementary areas:

i) early life immune development

ii) mechanisms by which antigen-presenting cells control tolerance to self, dietary and microbiota-derived antigens

iii) dendritic cells in tissue and tumor immunity

Research Projects

Featured News

Women in Cancer: Meet Three Trailblazers at MSK

Hear from three women breaking new ground in the fields of cancer metastasis, immunology and philanthropy.

Along with being a dedicated researcher, Dr. Chrysothemis Brown excels as a mentor to trainees like Gayathri Shibu (right).

Illuminating the Immune System

Learn how Dr. Chrysothemis Brown is shedding light on new types of immune cells and their role in cancer and other diseases.

A slide being reviewed under a microscope

MSK Research Highlights, October 13, 2022

New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and the Sloan Kettering Institute suggests a therapeutic strategy to overcome resistance to PRMT5 inhibition in lymphoma; finds safety and clinical benefit using an engineered adenovirus in combination with immunotherapy against PD-1-resistant melanoma; and uncovers a new type of immune cell that plays a key role in establishing a healthy gut microbiome.

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Publications Highlights

Akagbosu B†, Tayyebi Z^†, Shibu G, Paucar Iza Y, Deep D, Parisotto Y, Fisher L, Pasolli HA, Thevin V, Elmentaite R, Knott M, Hemmers S, Jahn L, Friedrich C, Verter J, Wang Z-M, van den Brink M, Gasteiger G, Grünewald TGP, Marie JC, Leslie C, Rudensky AY*, Brown C*. (2022). Novel antigen-presenting cell imparts Treg dependent tolerance to the gut microbiota. Nature 610:752-760.

Brown C, Rudensky A. (2021). Conceiving the inconceivable: the function of Aire in immune tolerance to peripheral tissue-restricted antigens in the thymus. J Immunol 206:245-247

Brown C*^†, Gudjonson H,*Pritykin Y, Deep D, Lavalle V, Mendoza A, Fromme R, Mazutis L, Ariyan C, Leslie C, Pe’er D, Rudensky, A. (2019). Transcriptional basis of dendritic cell heterogeneity in mouse and humans. Cell 179:846-863 *co-author ^†co-corresponding author

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People

Chrysothemis Brown, MBBS, PhD

Assistant Professor

The Brown Lab studies how the tissue environment shapes immune cell fate and function during early life immune development, inflammation, and cancer.
MA, University of Oxford
MBBS, Royal Free and University College London
PhD, King’s College London