Donita Brady

Donita C. Brady is a cancer biologist and the Presidential Associate Professor of Cancer Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.[1][2][3][4] Her research examines how cells communicate through kinases and nutrient homeostasis, and in particular, the central role of copper and other metals in these interactions.[2][5]

Donita C. Brady
Alma materRadford University - Chemistry, B.S. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, PhD
Scientific career
FieldsCancer Biology
InstitutionsDuke University School of Medicine, Postdoctoral Researcher with Christopher Counter, 2008-2013 Duke University School of Medicine, Research Associate Senior with Christopher Counter, 2013-2015
ThesisThe transforming Rho family GTPase, Wrch-1, regulates epithelial cell morphogenesis through modulating cell junctions and actin cytoskeletal dynamics (May 2008)
Doctoral advisorAdrienne D. Cox
Websitehttps://www.med.upenn.edu/bradylab/

Early life and education

Brady grew up near Virginia Beach and was inspired to purse Chemistry as a result of her AP Chemistry teacher.[5] Brady studied chemistry at Radford University where she graduated magna cum laude.[2][6][7]

Career

Brady completed a PhD in pharmacology in 2008 at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in the laboratory of Adrienne D. Cox.[1][2][8] As a graduate student, Brady studied how cancer cells exploit normal cellular functions to alter their shape.[8] After graduation, Brady became a postdoctoral fellow (2008 - 2013) and senior research associate (2013 - 2015) in the laboratory of Christopher Counter at Duke University School of Medicine.[1][2] In 2015, she joined the Department of Cancer Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant professor.[8] In 2016, Brady was recognized as one of 22 Pew Scholars in Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts.[9] In 2019, Brady was awarded a grant through the Stuart Scott Memorial Cancer Research Fund to continue her work in PDAC (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma) research.[10]

Research interests

Brady research focuses on how cells communicate through kinases and nutrient homeostasis,[5] and the central role of metals such as copper in healthy cell physiology and cancer.[1][8][11] She discovered that kinases require copper for their ability to function.[5] Brady also showed that by inhibiting a protein called CTR1, which is responsible for importing copper into cells, tumor growth could be slowed in a mouse model.[1]

Awards and honors

Brady has received several honors and awards for her research, including:

  • James Lewis Howe Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry - American Chemical Society (2003)[7]
  • AACR Annual Meeting Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Award (2013 and 2014)[7]
  • CRCHD CURE scholar (2014)[7]
  • Pew Scholar in the biomedical sciences (2016)[12]
  • JBC/Herb Tabor Young Investigator Award (2016)[13]
  • William Guy Forbeck Research Foundation Scholar (2017)[6]
  • Linda Pechenik Montague Investigator Award (2018)

Selected publications
  • Brady, Donita C., et al. "Copper is required for oncogenic BRAF signalling and tumorigenesis." Nature 509.7501 (2014): 492–496.
  • Brady, Donita C., et al. "Copper chelation inhibits BRAFV600E-driven melanomagenesis and counters resistance to BRAFV600E and MEK1/2 inhibitors." Cancer research 77.22 (2017): 6240–6252.
  • Sadeghi, Rochelle Shirin. "Wnt5a Signaling Induced Phosphorylation Increases Acyl Protein Thioesterase Activity And Promotes Melanoma Metastatic Behavior." (2018).
  • Kim, Ye-Jin, et al. "Copper chaperone ATOX1 is required for MAPK signaling and growth in BRAF mutation-positive melanoma." Metallomics 11.8 (2019): 1430–1440.
  • Kim, Ye-Jin, et al. "Inhibition of BCL2 family members increases the efficacy of copper chelation in BRAFV600E-driven melanoma." Cancer Research 80.7 (2020): 1387–1400.
  • Tsang, Tiffany, et al. "Copper is an essential regulator of the autophagic kinases ULK1/2 to drive lung adenocarcinoma." Nature Cell Biology 22.4 (2020): 412–424.

Personal life

At Radford University, Brady played Division I softball.[6]

References
  1. "Copper: A 'Novel Vulnerability' in Fighting Cancer – PR News". www.pennmedicine.org. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  2. Stern, Corey. "Donita Brady named as Penn's seventh Presidential Professor". www.thedp.com. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  3. "Cancer Biologist Donita Brady Appointed Penn Presidential Professor – PR News". www.pennmedicine.org. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  4. Hinton, Antentor O. Jr. "100 inspiring black scientists in America". crosstalk.cell.com. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  5. "Humans of Banbury: Interview with Donita Brady". Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  6. "Scholar Award Winners". William Guy Forbeck Research Foundation. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  7. "CURE Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Brady - National Cancer Institute". www.cancer.gov. 2014-08-21. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  8. "Speaker: Cell Symposia: Metabolites as Signalling Molecules". www.cell-symposia.com. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  9. "Donita C. Brady, Ph.D." pew.org. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  10. "Donita Brady, Ph.D. • V Foundation". V Foundation. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  11. Garber, Ken (2015-07-10). "Targeting copper to treat breast cancer". Science. 349 (6244): 128–129. doi:10.1126/science.349.6244.128. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 26160923.
  12. "Exceptional Early-Career Scientists Named Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences". pew.org. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  13. "JBC/Herb Tabor Young Investigator Award Program, 2016". Archived from the original on 2017-07-16.
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