Contact Info:
734-615-0282
mmbrenna@umich.edu
5111 CCGC Box 0940

Mentor:
Evan T. Keller
(lab webpage is under construction)

Undergraduate Information:
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Major: Biology
Degree: BS

Research Interests:

Our lab studies various aspects of prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. Prostate cancer responds to treatment in early stages but becomes androgen-independent and resistant to chemotherapy when recurring after androgen ablation. I am researching the regulation of the metastasis suppressor gene Raf Kinase Inhibitor Protein (RKIP) in prostate cancer. My goal is to determine the cause(s) of the loss of RKIP in metastatic disease, thereby opening up an avenue of treatment for metastatic prostate cancer that currently does not exist.

Publications:

Keller ET, Fu Z, Yeung K, Brennan M. Raf kinase inhibitor protein: A prostate cancer metastasis suppressor gene. Cancer Letters 207: 131-137, 2004.

Brennan M, Bhatti H, Nerusu KC, Bhagavathula N, Kang S, Fisher GJ, Varani J, Voorhees JJ. Matrix metalloproteinase-1 is the major collagenolytic enzyme responsible for collagen damage in UV-irradiated human skin. Photochem Photobiol, 2003, 78(1): 43-48.

Hattori Y, Nerusu KC, Bhagavathula N, Brennan M, Hattori N, Murphy HS, Su LD, Wang TS, Johnson TM, Varani J. Vascular expression of matrix metalloproteinase-13 (collagenase-3) in basal cell carcinoma. Exp Mol Pathol. 2003 74(3):230-237.

Keller ET, Fu Z, Brennan M. The role of Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) in health and disease. Biochem. Pharmacol. 2004.

Keller ET, Fu Z, Brennan M. The biology of a prostate cancer metastasis suppressor protein: Raf kinase inhibitor protein. J Cell Biochem. 2004.

National Conferences:

Poster: Androgen and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) suppress Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) metastasis suppressor gene (MSG) expression. 95th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Orlando, FL, 03/2004.

Poster: Regulation of Expression of RKIP prostate cancer metastasis suppress gene. 96th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Anaheim, CA, 04/2005.

Outside Interests:

Reading, games, teaching myself the guitar, talking with friends about music and movies, general geekery.