Professor Sara Brown graduated with Honours in Medicine & Surgery from the University of Edinburgh and gained her specialist training in Dermatology in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Sara obtained an MD in Human Genetics with commendation in 2008 for her research looking at the role of filaggrin null mutations in a population-based cohort study, working with Nick Reynolds, John Burn and Heather Cordell. Sara was awarded a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship in 2009 and spent 10 months as a Post-CCT Fellow in Paediatric Dermatology in Dublin, Ireland, with Alan Irvine & Rosemarie Watson. Sara moved to Dundee in October 2009, working within Irwin McLean’s laboratory and as a clinical collaborator in ‘DGEM’, the Wellcome Trust-funded Centre for Dermatology & Genetic Medicine. Sara has now established her own laboratory, based in the Medical Research Institute within Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee. In May 2015 Sara became the first UK dermatologist to be awarded a prestigious Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in Clinical Science and in October 2015 she was given a personal chair of Molecular and Genetic Dermatology.

Forbes D, Johnston L, Gardner J, MacCallum SF, Campbell LE, Dinkova-Kostova A, McLean WHI, Ibbotson SH, Dawe RS and Brown SJ. Filaggrin genotype does not determine the skin's threshold to UV-induced erythema.J Allergy Clin Immunol 2015 Jan 29. pii: S0091-6749(16)00023-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2015.11.022. [Epub ahead of print] Wedgeworth E, Glover M, Irvine AD, Neri I, Baselga Torres E, Clayton TH, Beattie PE, Bjerre JV, Burrows NP, Foelster-Holst R, Hedelund L, Hernandez-Martin A, Audrain H, Bhate K, Brown SJ et al. Propranolol in the treatment of infantile haemangiomas: Lessons from the European Propranolol In the Treatment of Complicated Haemangiomas (PITCH) Taskforce Survey.Br J Dermatol. 2016 Mar;174(3):594-601. Paternoster L, Standl M, Waage J, Baurecht H, Hotze M et al. Glass D, Brown SJ, Heinrich J, Evans DM* and Weidinger S.* (joint senior authors*). Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of 21,000 cases and 95,000 controls identifies new risk loci for atopic dermatitis.Nat Genet. 2015 Oct 19. doi: 10.1038/ng.3424. [Epub ahead of print] Healy E, Brown SJ, Langan S, Nicholls SG, Shams K and Reynolds NJ, on behalf of UK TREND. Identification of Translational Dermatology Research Priorities in the UK; Results of an e-Delphi Exercise.Br J Dermatol 2015 Jul 6. doi: 10.1111/bjd.14022. [Epub ahead of print] Harkins CP, Waters A, Kerr A, Campbell L, McLean WH, Brown SJ* and Ibbotson SH* (*joint senior authors). Loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding filaggrin are not strongly associated with chronic actinic dermatitis.J Invest Dermatol. 2015; 135(7):1919-21.PMID: 25734812 Baurecht H,* Hotze M,* Brand S, Büning C, Cormican P, Corvin A, Ellinghaus D, Ellinghaus E, Esparza-Gordillo J, F?lster-Holst R, Franke A, Gieger C, Hubner N, Illig T, Irvine AD, Kabesch M, Lee Y AE, Lieb W, Marenholz I, McLean WHI, Morris DW, Mrowietz U, Nair R, N?then MM, Novak N, O’Regan GM, PAGE consortium, Schreiber S, Smith C, Strauch K, Stuart PE, Trembath R, Tsoi LC, Weichenthal M, Barker J, Elder JT, Weidinger S,* Cordell HJ,* and Brown SJ.* [* contributed equally]. Genome-wide comparative analysis of atopic dermatitis and psoriasis gives insight into opposing genetic mechanisms.Am J Hum Genet. 2015 Jan 8;96(1):104-20. PMC4289690 Brough HA, Simpson A, Makinson K, Hankinson J, Brown S, Douiri A, Belgrave DC, Penagos M, Stephens AC, McLean WH, Turcanu V, Nicolaou N, Custovic A, Lack G. Peanut allergy: effect of environmental peanut exposure in children with filaggrin loss-of-function mutations.J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014 Oct;134(4):867-875. PMC4188983 Brough HA, Liu AH, Sicherer S, Makinson K, Douiri A, Brown SJ, Stephens AC, Irwin McLean WH, Turcanu V, Wood RA, Jones SM, Burks W, Dawson P, Stablein D, Sampson H, Lack G. Atopic dermatitis increases the effect of exposure to peanut antigen in dust on peanut sensitization and likely peanut allergy.J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2015 Jan;135(1):164-70. PMC4282723 Simpson EL, Chalmers JR, Hanifin JM, Thomas KS, Cork MJ, McLean WH, Brown SJ, Chen Z, Chen Y, Williams HC. Emollient enhancement of the skin barrier from birth offers effective atopic dermatitis prevention.J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014 Oct;134(4):818-23. PMC4180007 Cole C, Kroboth K, Schurch NJ, Sandilands A, Sherstnev A, et al., Watson RM, McLean WHI, Barton GJ, Irvine AD, Brown SJ. Filaggrin-stratified transcriptome analysis of paediatric skin identifies mechanistic pathways in atopic dermatitis.J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014 Jul;134(1):82-91. PMC4090750 Schurch NJ, Cole C, Sherstnev A, Song J, Duc C, Storey KG, McLean WH, Brown SJ, Simpson GG, Barton GJ. Improved Annotation of 3’ Untranslated Regions and Complex Loci by Combination of Strand-Specific Direct RNA Sequencing, RNA-Seq and ESTs.PLoS One. 2014 Apr 10;9(4):e94270. doi: 10.1371 PMC3983147 Saunders SP, Goh CSM (joint 1st authors), Brown SJ, Palmer CNA, Porter RM, Cole C, Campbell LE, Gierlinski M, Barton, GJ, Schneider G et al. Tmem79/Matt is the matted mouse gene and is a predisposing gene for atopic dermatitis in humans.J Allergy Clin Immunol 2013 Nov; 132(5):1121-9. PMC3834151 Weidinger S et al., Lieden A, Nordenskjold M, Harper JI, McLean WHI, Brown SJ, Cookson WOC, Lathrop GM, Irvine AD and Moffatt MF. A genome-wide association study of atopic dermatitis identifies loci with overlapping effects on asthma and psoriasis.Human Molecular Genetics 2013 Dec 1; 22(23):4841-56. PMC3820131 Ellinghaus D et al., Fahy CM, Kabesch M, Brown S, McLean WH, Irvine AD, Schreiber S, Lee YA, Franke A, Weidinger S. High-density genotyping study identifies four new susceptibility loci for atopic dermatitis.Nat Genet. 2013 Jul;45(7):808-12. PMC3797441 P?hler E, Zamiri M, Harkins C, Salas-Alanis JC, Perkins W, Smith FJ, McLean WHI, Brown SJ. Heterozygous mutations in AAGAB cause type 1 punctate palmoplantar keratoderma with evidence for increased growth factor signalling.J Invest Dermatol. 2013 Dec;133(12):2805-8. PMC3826975 Asai Y, Greenwood C, Hull PR, Alizadehfar R, Ben-Shoshan M, Brown SJ, Campbell L, Michel DL, Bussières J, Rousseau F et al. Filaggrin gene mutation associations with peanut allergy persist despite variations in peanut allergy diagnostic criteria or asthma status.J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Jul;132(1):239-42 PMC3919206 Pohler E et al., Saad A, Gribaa M, Dopping-Hepenstal PJ, McGrath JA, Brown SJ, Goudie DR, Reversade B, Munro CS, McLean WH. Haploinsufficiency for AAGAB causes clinically heterogeneous forms of punctate palmoplantar keratoderma.Nat Genet. 2012 Nov;44(11):1272-6. PMC3836166 Sandilands A, Brown SJ, Goh CS, Pohler E, Wilson NJ, Campbell LE, Miyamoto K, Kubo A, Irvine AD, Thawer-Esmail F, et al. Mutations in the SASPase gene (ASPRV1) are not associated with atopic eczema or clinically dry skin.J Invest Dermatol. 2012;132 (5):1507-10. PMC3378512 Brown SJ, Kroboth K, Sandilands A, Campbell L, Pohler E, Kezic S, Cordell HJ, McLean WHI and Irvine AD. Intragenic copy number variation within filaggrin contributes to risk of atopic dermatitis with a dose-dependent effect.J Invest Dermatol 2012;132(1):98-104. PMC3236450 Brown SJ, Asai Y (joint 1st authors), Cordell HJ, Campbell LE, Zhao Y, Liao H, Northstone K, Henderson J, Alizadehfar R, Ben-Shoshan M, et al. Loss-of-function variants in the filaggrin gene are a significant risk factor for peanut allergy.J Allergy Clin Immunol 2011; 127(3): 661-667. PMC3081065 Common JE, Brown SJ (joint 1st authors), Haines RL, Goh CS, Chen H, Balakrishnan A, Munro CS, Tan AW, Tan HH, Tang MB, Lane EB. Filaggrin Null Mutations Are Not a Protective Factor for Acne Vulgaris.J Invest Dermatol. 2011; 131(6):1378-80. PMC3094589 O’Regan GM, Campbell LE, Cordell HJ, Irvine AD, McLean WHI and Brown SJ. Chromosome 11q13.5 variant associated with childhood eczema; an effect supplementary to filaggrin mutations.J Allergy Clin Immunol 2010;125(1):170-4. PMC3038266 Brown SJ, Relton CL, Liao H, Zhao Y, Sandilands A, McLean WH, Cordell HJ, Reynolds NJ. Filaggrin haploinsufficiency is highly penetrant and is associated with increased severity of eczema: further delineation of the skin phenotype in a prospective epidemiological study of 792 school children.Br J Dermatol. 2009 Oct;161(4):884-9. PMC2883069 Rodríguez E, Baurecht H, Herberich E, Wagenpfeil S, Brown SJ, Cordell HJ, Irvine AD, Weidinger S. Meta-analysis of filaggrin polymorphisms in eczema and asthma: robust risk factors in atopic disease.J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2009 Jun;123(6):1361-70. [JACI full text available free]