Dr. Daren W Brown received his BSc (1988) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his PhD (1993) from Albany Medical College. He conducted postdoctoral research at Texas A&M University supported by a USDA Fellowship and was a Staff Scientist at TerraGen Discovery in Vancouver, British Columbia. He joined the Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research Team at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, IL in 2000. The Brown lab is primarily interested in reducing the negative impact Fusarium secondary metabolites have on our food supply. Brown’s research is focused on identifying the molecular genetic processes controlling expression of Fusarium toxin synthesis and host metabolites which impact fungal growth and toxin synthesis. To address these challenges, he is pursuing multiple lines of research including improving Fusarium genomic resources for assessing mycotoxin production potential; identifying components of maize-fungus interactions that affect mycotoxin synthesis; and understanding how fungal meiotic drive elements can be harnessed to reduce toxin contamination.
Dr. Todd A Naumann has worked as a biochemist at ARS in Peoria since 2006. After receiving his B.S. in Botany at Eastern Illinois University, Dr. Naumann studied biochemical mechanisms of DNA transposition and developed synthetic biology methods at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After obtaining his Ph.D, he studied chemical biology at Penn State University, isolating cyclic peptide inhibitors of antibiotic target proteins. Dr. Naumann is currently a member of a team of scientists working to reduce mycotoxin contamination in food and feed crops. To achieve this goal, his research involves discovering and studying the important plant and fungal proteins that are present in the apoplast, the area between plant cells where disease-causing fungi grow. The goal is to disrupt key interactions between plant and fungal proteins in ways that favour the plant. This will result in less fungal growth on crops and reduce fungal toxins in harvested grain.
