Dr Nigel J Brand

Dr Brand is Education Co-ordinator for the BHF Centre of Research Excellence at Imperial and Head of the Transcriptional Regulation Group at Harefield Heart Science Centre, working on hypertrophic mechanisms in the cardiac myocyte.

Following a PhD with Professor Sir Alan Fersht, FRS, in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial, where he cloned and sequenced the gene for valyl tRNA synthetase from Bacillus stearothermophilus, Dr Brand joined the laboratory of Professor Pierre Chambon in Strasbourg. Here he was involved in the cloning and characterization of two of the first retinoic acid receptors to be identified as part of a wider strategy within the Chambon lab to identify novel members of the steroid hormone superfamily of transcription factors. Dr Brand then returned to London in 1989 to join the National Heart and Lung Institute (then part of the Royal Postgradiate Medical School) based at the Royal Brompton site, first as Lecturer and then later as a Senior Lecturer within the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery headed by Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, FRS. Dr Brand moved over to the Harefield site in 2002 when the final members of the Department regrouped to the recently expanded Harefield Heart Science Centre, and his lab has been here ever since. In 2008 Dr Brand was appointed to be Education Co-ordinator for the newly formed BHF Centre, on of four BHF Centres of Research Excellence established by the BHF in order to meet the demands of understanding and tackling heart disease in the 21st century.

Nigel Brand's research interests in gene transcription in the heart, which parallel and complement studies on calcineurin and IGF-1 within Nadia Rosenthal's group at Harefield Heart Science Centre, with whom he is closely aligned, specifically address questions of how anti-hypertrophic mechanisms work in the heart. In particular, he is investigating a transcription factor called kruppel like factor 15 (KLF15) which is down-regulated in several animal and cell cultures models of cardiac myocyte hypertrophy. KLF15 may prove to be an essential factor for preventing development of hypertrophy, and we have preliminary evidence that it ameliorates pro-hypertrophic pathways involving calcineurin and its downstream effector NFAT. On the other hand, some evidence in the literature suggests that KLF15 can lead to atrophy. These studies involve a variety of in vitro techniques, and collaboration with colleagues such as Professor Sian Harding and Dr Cesare Terracciano, both within NHLI.