Edward P. Browne

Edward P. Browne, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. He directs the Browne Lab, which is part of the UNC HIV Cure Center located in the Genetic Medicine Research Building in Chapel Hill, NC.

Dr. Browne's educational background includes undergraduate and MSc studies at the University of Auckland and a PhD from Princeton University. His research program focuses on the molecular mechanisms of HIV latency with the ultimate goal of contributing to an HIV cure. His lab specializes in applying cutting-edge single-cell and systems biology methods to study HIV reservoirs and latency.

His research has revealed that HIV latency is associated with a specific host cell gene expression signature, indicating that latency is regulated by a distinct host cell program that could be therapeutically targeted. Recent work using ATACseq and CRISPR/Cas9 has identified chromatin insulator protein CTCF as a key molecule for maintaining transcriptional latency.

Dr. Browne's publication record shows consistent output in high-impact journals, with a clear focus on HIV latency mechanisms, epigenetic regulation, and therapeutic strategies for HIV cure research. His work increasingly incorporates single-cell multiomic approaches and CRISPR screening technologies to identify novel regulators of HIV transcription and latency.

His laboratory collaborates extensively with the broader HIV research community, as evidenced by co-authorship on significant studies related to HIV reservoirs, latency reversal, and immune responses in HIV infection.

Dr. Browne maintains an active research program with ongoing projects funded by R01 awards, focusing on defining molecular details of host programs regulating HIV latency and characterizing chromatin-based events at the single-cell level.