Dr Adam Brown

School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering

Senior Lecturer

Deputy Director of Research (CBE) Commercialisation

Adam Brown
Profile picture of Adam Brown
adam.brown@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 7608
Room G54, Sir Robert Hadfield Building

Full contact details

Dr Adam Brown
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Room G54
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Profile

I was appointed as Lecturer in Biopharmaceutical Engineering in 2018, and subsequently as Senior Lecturer in 2021.

My research group is focussed on rapid development of useful technologies that can be directly applied to improve the manufacture and performance of biopharmaceuticals. Specifically, we engineer new mammalian biological components (e.g. nucleic acid constructs, cell and enzyme biocatalysts) that enhance the yield/quality of mRNA, DNA, cell, and viral vector products. Utilising bioinformatics, modelling, biodesign and high-throughput screening platforms, we work with biotechnology companies worldwide to provide solutions to complex bioengineering challenges. Our technologies have been translated into the real-world via both successful bioindustrial collaborations and commercialisation activities (SynGenSys, SilViA).

Examples of recently developed technologies:

  • RNA polymerases for mRNA manufacture
  • Immunosuppressive nucleic acid constructs for DNA-based gene therapies
  • DNA and mRNA control switches for biomanufacturing and gene therapy applications.
  • Synthetic promoters for cell and gene therapies
  • Platform for CHO and HEK cell factory re-design/rescue
  • Signal peptides for cell and gene therapy products
  • Cell-based platform for mRNA production
  • DNA elements that enhance duration of plasmid gene therapies
Research interests
  • Biopharmaceutical production
  • DNA and mRNA design
  • Mammalian cell factory engineering
  • Genetic expression vector engineering
Publications

Journal articles

  • Pohle M, Curry E, Holden R, Gibson S & Brown A (2025) . Nucleic Acids Research, 53(14).
  • Curry E, Sedelnikova S, Rafferty J, Hulley M, Pohle M, Muir G & Brown A (2024) . Biotechnology Journal, 19(6).
  • Curry E, Muir G, Qu J, Kis Z, Hulley M & Brown A (2024) . Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 121(6), 1912-1926.
  • ONeill P, Mistry RK, Brown AJ & James DC (2023) . ACS Synthetic Biology, 12(8), 2339-2352.
  • Sou SN, Harris CL, Williams R, Kozub D, Zurlo F, Patel YD, Kallamvalli Illam Sankaran P, Daramola O, Brown A, James DC , Hatton D et al (2023) . Biotechnology Progress, 39(5).
  • Johari YB, Scarrott JM, Pohle TH, Liu P, Mayer A, Brown AJ & James DC (2022) . Biotechnology Journal, 17(8).
  • Johnson AO, Fowler SB, Webster CI, Brown AJ & James DC (2022) . ACS Synthetic Biology, 11(4), 1613-1626.
  • Patel YD, Brown AJ, Zhu J, Rosignoli G, Gibson SJ, Hatton D & James DC (2021) . ACS Synthetic Biology, 10(5), 1155-1165.
  • Johari YB, Mercer AC, Liu Y, Brown AJ & James DC (2021) . Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 118(5), 2001-2015.
  • Johari YB, Jaff矇 SRP, Scarrott JM, Johnson AO, Mozzanino T, Pohle TH, Maisuria S, BhayatCammack A, Lambiase G, Brown AJ , Tee KL et al (2021) . Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 118(2), 1013-1021.
  • Cartwright JF, Arnall CL, Patel YD, Barber NOW, Lovelady CS, Rosignoli G, Harris CL, Dunn S, Field RP, Dean G , Daramola O et al (2020) . Journal of Biotechnology, 312, 11-22.
  • Johari YB, Brown AJ, Alves CS, Zhou Y, Wright CM, Estes SD, Kshirsagar R & James DC (2019) . Journal of Biotechnology, 294, 1-13.
  • Brown AJ, Gibson SJ, Hatton D, Arnall CL & James DC (2019) . Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 116(2), 375-387.
  • Brown AJ, Gibson SJ, Hatton D & James DC (2017) . Nucleic Acids Research, 45(18), 10906-10919.
  • Brown AJ, Gibson S, Hatton D & James DC (2017) . Biotechnology Journal.
  • Brown AJ & James DC (2017) , 131-145.
  • Brown AJ & James DC (2016) . Biotechnology Advances, 34(5), 492-503.
  • Brown AJ, Sweeney B, Mainwaring DO & James DC (2015) . Biotechnology Journal, 10(7), 1019-1028.
  • Brown AJ, Sweeney B, Mainwaring DO & James DC (2014) . Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 111(8), 1638-1647.
  • Brown AJ, Mainwaring DO, Sweeney B & James DC (2013) . Analytical Biochemistry, 443(2), 205-210.

Book chapters

  • Brown AJ, Kalsi D, FernandezMartell A, Cartwright J, Barber NOW, Patel YD, Turner R, Bryant CL, Johari YB & James DC (2017) (pp. 423-467). Wiley
  • (2017) In Vaughan T, Osbourn J & Jallal B (Ed.) Wiley

Patents

  • Brown AJ, James DC, Gibson SJ & Hatton D (2018) In silico design of mammalian promoters with user-defined functionality. WO 2018/193072 A1 Appl. 25 Oct 2018.
  • James DC & Brown AJ (2015) Synthetic promoters for CHO cells, methods of producing synthetic promoters using transcription factor binding site modules. WO2015079053-A2; WO2015079053-A3 Appl. 08 Oct 2015.
  • James DC & Brown AJ (2014) Regulating recombinant gene expression in vitro comprises providing a host cell encoding recombinant genes for expression, and contacting the cell with an exonuclease resistant block decoy. WO2014202640-A1 Appl. 24 Dec 2014.

Preprints

  • Pohle M, Curry E, Gibson S & Brown A (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
  • Alexandru-Crivac CN, Cartwright JF, Taylor R, Sweeney BM, Feary M, Chathoth KT, Fabian DK, Allsopp H, Brown AJ & James DC (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
  • Curry E, Sedelnikova S, Rafferty J, Hulley M & Brown A (2024) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
  • Curry E, Muir G, Qu J, Kis Z, Hulley M & Brown A (2023) , Wiley.
  • ONeill P, Mistry RK, Brown AJ & James DC (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
  • Johari YB, Jaff矇 SRP, Scarrott JM, Johnson AO, Mozzanino T, Pohle TH, Maisuria S, Bhayat-Cammack A, Brown AJ, Tee KL , Jackson PJ et al (2020) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Research group

Edward Curry (PDRA)
Katie Ellis (PDRA)
Melinda Pohle (PDRA)
Mara Torres (PhD)
Bill Liu (PhD)
Farah Alkhateeb (PhD)
Alessandra Sabatini (PhD)
Sam Saunders (PhD)
Ryan Holden (PhD)

Grants

My lab is currently utilising research funding from UKRI and bioindustry (e.g., AstraZeneca, Lonza, CGTC, Takeda) to engineer synthetic biological components for i) enhanced production of therapeutic proteins, nucleic acids and viral vectors, and ii) improved in vivo performance of ATMPs.

Teaching interests

My teaching is focussed on equipping students with the knowledge and skills required to develop new biotechnologies that have real world applications. I lead a Y4UG/PGR module on Biopharmaceutical Engineering (CPE442/CPE6044) and supervise 4th Year BioEng/ChemEng and MSc research projects (CPE440/CPE6011). 

Links