Susan Brain

{{short description|Professor of Pharmacology at King's College London}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox scientist

| birth_name = Susan Diana Brain

| name = Susan Brain

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBPhS|size=100}}

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| fields = Physiology
Pharmacology

| workplaces = King's College London

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| alma_mater = University of London (PhD)

| thesis_title = Relationship between lipolysis and prostaglandin biosynthesis in adipose tissue

| thesis_url = https://catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/record=b1524849

| thesis_year = 1981

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| website = {{URL|https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/professor-susan-brain}}

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Susan Diana Brain {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBPhS}} is a professor of pharmacology at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences at King's College London where she has worked since 1989.Susan Brain's {{ORCID}}

Education

Brain completed a PhD in pharmacology at University College London in 1981.

Career and research

Brain held a postdoctoral post at the Institute of Dermatology. In 1989 she took up a lectureship at King's College London, where she was promoted to Reader in 1993{{Cite web|url=https://www.cgrpforum.org/editorialboard/susan-brain/|title=Susan Brain – CGRP Education & Research Forum|date=20 March 2017 |language=en-GB|access-date=2019-10-17}} and in 1998 she was made Professor of Pharmacology at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine, where since 2005 she has been Head of the Vascular Biology and Inflammation Section.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/professor-susan-brain|title=Professor Susan Brain|website=www.kcl.ac.uk|access-date=2019-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017131141/https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/professor-susan-brain|archive-date=2019-10-17}} She was also Head of the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Education Department between 2011 and 2018.

Brain's research investigates the role of sensory nerves in vascular inflammation.{{Cite journal|last1=Sousa-Valente|first1=João|last2=Brain|first2=Susan D.|date=2018|title=A historical perspective on the role of sensory nerves in neurogenic inflammation|journal=Seminars in Immunopathology|language=en|volume=40|issue=3|pages=229–236|doi=10.1007/s00281-018-0673-1|issn=1863-2297|pmc=5960476|pmid=29616309}} In her early career she discovered the Calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist (CGRP) as a potent microvascular vasodilator.{{Cite journal|last1=Brain|first1=S. D.|last2=Williams|first2=T. J.|last3=Tippins|first3=J. R.|last4=Morris|first4=H. R.|last5=MacIntyre|first5=I.|date=1985|title=Calcitonin gene-related peptide is a potent vasodilator|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=313|issue=5997|pages=54–56|doi=10.1038/313054a0|pmid=3917554 |s2cid=4329128 |issn=0028-0836}} More recently her research found that the gene TRPC5 can help protect against pain in arthritis{{Cite journal|last1=Alawi|first1=Khadija M|last2=Russell|first2=Fiona A|last3=Aubdool|first3=Aisah A|last4=Srivastava|first4=Salil|last5=Riffo-Vasquez|first5=Yanira|last6=Baldissera|first6=Lineu|last7=Thakore|first7=Pratish|last8=Saleque|first8=Nurjahan|last9=Fernandes|first9=Elizabeth S|last10=Walsh|first10=David A|last11=Brain|first11=Susan D|date=2017|title=Transient receptor potential canonical 5 (TRPC5) protects against pain and vascular inflammation in arthritis and joint inflammation|url= |journal=Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases|language=en|volume=76|issue=1|pages=252–260|doi=10.1136/annrheumdis-2015-208886|issn=0003-4967|pmc=5264234|pmid=27165180}} and that the gene TRPA1 is essential for the vascular response when being exposed to cold environments.{{Cite journal|last1=Aubdool|first1=Aisah A.|last2=Graepel|first2=Rabea|last3=Kodji|first3=Xenia|last4=Alawi|first4=Khadija M.|last5=Bodkin|first5=Jennifer V.|last6=Srivastava|first6=Salil|last7=Gentry|first7=Clive|last8=Heads|first8=Richard|last9=Grant|first9=Andrew D.|last10=Fernandes|first10=Elizabeth S.|last11=Bevan|first11=Stuart|date= 2014|title=TRPA1 is essential for the vascular response to environmental cold exposure|journal=Nature Communications|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|pages=5732|doi=10.1038/ncomms6732|issn=2041-1723|pmc=4284811|pmid=25501034}}

=Awards and honours=

In 2018 she was elected as honorary fellow of the British Pharmacological Society.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bps.ac.uk/about/who-we-are/honorary-fellows-directory/professor-susan-brain/137c5206-cdf6-e311-88a7-001dd8b721a7|title=Professor Susan Brain, Honorary Fellows|website=British Pharmacological Society|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017140444/https://www.bps.ac.uk/about/who-we-are/honorary-fellows-directory/professor-susan-brain/137c5206-cdf6-e311-88a7-001dd8b721a7|archive-date=2019-10-17|access-date=2019-10-17}}

References