Dr Karl David Brown a Senior Research Fellow working at the Centre for Eye Research Australia. Dr Brown has a mixed background in cellular, molecular, and developmental biology. His current research endeavours to develop tissue-engineered and cell therapy treatments to replace corneal transplants thereby overcoming issues of supply, ethical obstacles, and variable quality.

Dr Brown has a broad biological education. He is a graduate of the Bachelor of Science studying Biotechnology with Honours in Biomedical Science from Murdoch University in Perth Western Australia. He holds a Master of Philosophy for his thesis “The Role of the Histone Variant H2A.Z in Early Xenopus laevis Development” from the John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra. The co-authored paper arising from Dr Brown’s investigations into the control of gene expression during early vertebrate development has been cited 94 times since 2004. He then joined the Centre for Eye Research Australia in Melbourne where he applied his knowledge of developmental and cell biology to corneal tissue engineering projects. He was awarded his PhD in 2015 for his thesis entitled “Improved corneal tissue-engineering” from The University of Melbourne.

Dr Brown is a translational scientist eager to bring new treatments to patients. He is a graduate of the Translating Research at Melbourne program. He is a named inventor on the patent “Polymer compositions and uses thereof” (USA19/496,646). He was instrumental in initiating a commercial relationship with Eversight, a leading eye bank in the USA. He is a member of the MRFF funded BIENCO Australian consortium to develop a tissue engineered cornea. He also works closely with the Lions Eye Donation Service, Melbourne University Departments of Veterinary Science and Chemical Engineering on translational projects.

Dr Brown has an established international reputation. He has been part of international collaborations with partners in Hyderabad and Harbin. Dr Brown has given international invited talks at Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society - Asia Pacific Chapter (2019), ISORM in Taiwan (2017), and the International Forum of Ophthalmology in Taipei Medical University (2017). He was invited to speak at the 35th Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology in Xiamen China (2020). This conference was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Brown co-organised a symposia “Corneal tissue engineering and regenerative medicine: translation to clinical practice” for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society World Congress, Maastricht Netherlands (2020) but was unable to attend due COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. He has also given nine international conference oral presentations selected from abstracts. He has given seminars at Tampere University (2023), Moorfields UCL (2017), and at the Shenzhen Eye Hospital in China (2015). He was invited to be a pre-examiner for a PhD from the Tampere University (2024).

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