Brown, Carolyn

WHRI

Brown, Carolyn

Ph.D.

Faculty of Medicine, Medical Genetics

Life Sciences Institute

Biography:

Dr. Carolyn J. Brown, Ph.D. obtained her Ph.D. in Medical Genetics from the University of Toronto in 1990. During her Ph.D. and subsequent postdoctoral work with Dr. H.F. Willard at Stanford and Case Western Reserve University, she studied the process of X-chromosome inactivation, identifying genes expressed from the inactive X, including the XIST gene, which is a key initiator of X chromosome silencing. She has been at the University of British Columbia since 1994, where her research group continues to study X-chromosome inactivation. They focus on the role of the XIST RNA in initiating the heterochromatic changes that accompany X-chromosome silencing as well as the DNA elements that allow some genes to escape inactivation.

As the process of X inactivation silences the orange or black X-linked coat colour alleles in cats, calico cats serve as a visible example of X-chromosome inactivation.

Research areas of interest:

X-chromosome inactivation; sex differences; genes escaping X-chromosome inactivation

Research Themes:

Genomics and Personalized Health

Website: https://inactivexlab.com/

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The Women’s Health Research Institute would like to acknowledge that we are uninvited guests on the unceded ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lo, and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-waututh) Nations.

As a provincial research institute committed to improving the health outcomes of women, including those across the 2SLGBTQIA+ spectrum, we recognize our responsibility in the collective effort towards establishing culturally safe health care systems and services that address health inequities among Indigenous peoples, especially Indigenous women, girls, and Two-spirit peoples.

We encourage all people involved in research to read both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action and the In Plain Sight Report, and reflect on ways we can incorporate the recommendations into our work. As we gather in spaces together, we encourage you to reflect on your positionality on these lands and your personal commitments to reconciliation.

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