Bryan R. Cullen

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|

Bryan R. Cullen

Born|

Bryan Richard Cullen

December 1951 (age 73–74)

Bradford, England

Nationality| British
Alma mater| Rutgers University
Scientific career
Fields| Molecular Genetics
Microbiology
Institutions| Duke University

Bryan Richard Cullen is a James B. Duke Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. Cullen was the Founding Director of the Duke University Center for Virology.[1]

## Early life and education

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Cullen was born in December 1951 in Bradford, England, where he graduated head of his class from Thornton Grammar School in 1970. In 1973, he received a B.Sc. in biochemistry from Warwick University, England and in 1974, he received an M.Sc. in virology from Birmingham University, England. Dr. Cullen emigrated to the US in 1974, where he received a Ph.D. in microbiology from Rutgers University, New Jersey, in 1984. He became a US citizen in 1992.[2]

## Research

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Cullen and his laboratory are currently studying the regulation of viral mRNA expression by epitranscriptomic modifications and the use of CRISPR/Cas as a potential approach to the treatment of chronic diseases caused by DNA viruses.[3][4]

Cullen discovered the phenomenon of “transcriptional interference” in retroviruses and showed that this explained why proviral 5’LTRs are active while 3’ LTRs are silenced.[5] After starting his own research group in 1984, he demonstrated that the HIV-1 Tat protein activates viral transcription and that the HIV-1 Rev protein induces viral RNA nuclear export.[6][7][8][9] He demonstrated that HIV-1 readily infects non-dividing cells,[10] an unexpected result that overturned then prevalent dogma, and showed that a single variable loop in the Envelope protein, the V3 loop, controls HIV-1 tissue tropism.[11]

His laboratory was the first to express and functionally characterize microRNAs in mammalian cells and the first to identify and functionally characterize the microRNAs encoded by the herpesviruses KHSV, EBV and HSV-1.[12][13][14][15]

Recently, his laboratory was the first to report that several distinct epitranscriptomic modifications added to viral mRNAs promote viral gene expression and replication.[3][16]

## Controversy

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On May 24, 2022, Cullen replied-all to a department-wide email about an inclusivity module by claiming that it is a "left-wing Maoist political propaganda workshop" and that he will refuse to engage in it "as a tenured faculty". He was widely criticized in the same email chain, where he was also perceived to be transphobic.[17]

## Awards and honors

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Cullen was the recipient of the 1989 Ely Lilly Molecular Biology Award.[18][19] He was awarded a distinguished fellowship by Durham University, UK in 2007.[20] He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology since 2009 and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2011.[21][22] He was named one of the top peer reviewers by the Journal of Virology in 2009 and 2011 and has been identified as a highly cited scientist by both Clarivate Analytics at Web of Science and by Thomson Reuters annually since 2001.[23] He was awarded an honorary doctorate of science (D.Sc.) degree by Warwick University in 2016.

## Key publications

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* Cullen, Bryan R., Lomedico, Peter T. and Ju, Grace. (1984) Transcriptional Interference in Avian Retroviruses-Implications for the Promoter Insertion Model of Leukaemogenesis. Nature 307, 241–245.[5]
* Cullen, Bryan R. (1986) Trans-activation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Occurs Via a Bimodal Mechanism. Cell 46, 973–982.[6]
* Malim, Michael H., Hauber, Joachim, Le, Shu-Yun, Maizel, Jacob V. and Cullen, Bryan R. (1989) The HIV-1 Rev Trans-activator Acts Through a Structured Target Sequence to Activate Nuclear Export of Unspliced Viral mRNA. Nature 338, 254–257.
* Malim, Michael H., Böhnlein, Sabine, Hauber, Joachim and Cullen, Bryan R. (1989) Functional Dissection of the HIV-1 Rev Trans-activator – Derivation of a Trans-dominant Repressor of Rev Function. Cell 58, 205–214.[8]
* Malim, Michael H., Tiley, Laurence S., McCarn, David F., Rusche, James R., Hauber, Joachim and Cullen, Bryan R. (1990) HIV-1 Structural Gene Expression Requires Binding of the Rev Trans-activator to its RNA Target Sequence. Cell 60, 675–683.[9]
* Hwang, Stephen S., Boyle, Terence J., Lyerly, H. Kim and Cullen, Bryan. R. (1991) Identification of the Envelope V3 Loop as the Primary Determinant of Cell Tropism in HIV-1. Science 253, 71–74.[24]
* Weinberg, J. Brice, Matthews, Thomas J., Cullen, Bryan R. and Malim, Michael H. (1991) Productive HIV-1Ba-L Infection of Nonproliferating Human Monocytes. The Journal of Experimental Medicine 174, 1477–1482.
* Courtney, David G., Kennedy, Edward M., Dumm, Rebekah E., Bogerd, Hal P., Tsai, Kevin, Heaton, Nicholas S. and Cullen, Bryan R. (2017) Epitranscriptomic enhancement of influenza A virus gene expression and replication. Cell Host & Microbe, 22: 377–386.e5.[25]

## Editorship

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Dr. Cullen has served as an Associate Editor for Cell, and PLoS Pathogens.[26] He has also served as an editorial board member for several major journals.

## External links

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* Google Scholar

## References

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1. ^ "MGM Bryan Cullen, PhD". mgm.duke.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
2. ^ Cullen, Bryan R (2014-04-01). "Interview with Bryan R Cullen". Future Virology. 9 (4): 345–350\. doi:10.2217/fvl.14.17. ISSN 1746-0794.
3. ^ a b Kennedy, Edward M.; Bogerd, Hal P.; Kornepati, Anand V. R.; Kang, Dong; Ghoshal, Delta; Marshall, Joy B.; Poling, Brigid C.; Tsai, Kevin; Gokhale, Nandan S.; Horner, Stacy M.; Cullen, Bryan R. (2017-12-13). "Posttranscriptional m6A Editing of HIV-1 mRNAs Enhances Viral Gene Expression". Cell Host & Microbe. 22 (6): 830. doi:10.1016/j.chom.2017.11.010. ISSN 1931-3128. PMC 5746179. PMID 29241043.
4. ^ Courtney, David G.; Kennedy, Edward M.; Dumm, Rebekah E.; Bogerd, Hal P.; Tsai, Kevin; Heaton, Nicholas S.; Cullen, Bryan R. (2017-09-13). "Epitranscriptomic Enhancement of Influenza A Virus Gene Expression and Replication". Cell Host & Microbe. 22 (3): 377–386.e5. doi:10.1016/j.chom.2017.08.004. ISSN 1931-3128. PMC 5615858. PMID 28910636.
5. ^ a b Cullen, Bryan R.; Lomedico, Peter T.; Ju, Grace (1984-01-01). "Transcriptional interference in avian retroviruses—implications for the promoter insertion model of leukaemogenesis". Nature. 307 (5948): 241–245\. Bibcode:1984Natur.307..241C. doi:10.1038/307241a0. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 6363938. S2CID 4277058.
6. ^ a b Cullen, Bryan R. (1986-09-26). "Trans-activation of human immunodeficiency virus occurs via a bimodal mechanism". Cell. 46 (7): 973–982\. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(86)90696-3. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 3530501. S2CID 20968163.
7. ^ Malim, Michael H.; Hauber, Joachim; Le, Shu-Yun; Maizel, Jacob V.; Cullen, Bryan R. (March 1989). "The HIV-1 rev trans -activator acts through a structured target sequence to activate nuclear export of unspliced viral mRNA". Nature. 338 (6212): 254–257\. Bibcode:1989Natur.338..254M. doi:10.1038/338254a0. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 2784194. S2CID 4367958.
8. ^ a b Malim, Michael H.; Böhnlein, Sabine; Hauber, Joachim; Cullen, Bryan R. (1989-07-14). "Functional dissection of the HIV-1 Rev trans-activator—Derivation of a trans-dominant repressor of Rev function". Cell. 58 (1): 205–214\. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(89)90416-9. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 2752419. S2CID 19289070.
9. ^ a b Malim, Michael H.; Tiley, Laurence S.; McCarn, David F.; Rusche, James R.; Hauber, Joachim; Cullen, Bryan R. (1990-02-23). "HIV-1 structural gene expression requires binding of the rev trans-activator to its RNA target sequence". Cell. 60 (4): 675–683\. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(90)90670-A. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 2406030. S2CID 19377586.
10. ^ Weinberg, J. B.; Matthews, T. J.; Cullen, B. R.; Malim, M. H. (1991-12-01). "Productive human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection of nonproliferating human monocytes". Journal of Experimental Medicine. 174 (6): 1477–1482\. doi:10.1084/jem.174.6.1477. ISSN 0022-1007. PMC 2119042. PMID 1720811.
11. ^ Hwang, S. S.; Boyle, T. J.; Lyerly, H. K.; Cullen, B. R. (1992-07-24). "Identification of envelope V3 loop as the major determinant of CD4 neutralization sensitivity of HIV-1". Science. 257 (5069): 535–537\. Bibcode:1992Sci...257..535H. doi:10.1126/science.1636088. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 1636088.
12. ^ Zeng, Yan; Wagner, Eric J.; Cullen, Bryan R. (2002-06-01). "Both Natural and Designed Micro RNAs Can Inhibit the Expression of Cognate mRNAs When Expressed in Human Cells". Molecular Cell. 9 (6): 1327–1333\. doi:10.1016/S1097-2765(02)00541-5. ISSN 1097-2765. PMID 12086629.
13. ^ Cai, Xuezhong; Lu, Shihua; Zhang, Zhihong; Gonzalez, Carlos M.; Damania, Blossom; Cullen, Bryan R. (2005-04-12). "Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus expresses an array of viral microRNAs in latently infected cells". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 102 (15): 5570–5575\. Bibcode:2005PNAS..102.5570C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0408192102. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 556237. PMID 15800047.
14. ^ Umbach, Jennifer Lin; Kramer, Martha F.; Jurak, Igor; Karnowski, Heather W.; Coen, Donald M.; Cullen, Bryan R. (2008). "MicroRNAs expressed by herpes simplex virus 1 during latent infection regulate viral mRNAs". Nature. 454 (7205): 780–783\. Bibcode:2008Natur.454..780U. doi:10.1038/nature07103. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 2666538. PMID 18596690.
15. ^ Cai, Xuezhong; Schäfer, Alexandra; Lu, Shihua; Bilello, John P.; Desrosiers, Ronald C.; Edwards, Rachel; Raab-Traub, Nancy; Cullen, Bryan R. (2006-03-24). "Epstein–Barr Virus MicroRNAs Are Evolutionarily Conserved and Differentially Expressed". PLOS Pathogens. 2 (3): e23. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0020023. ISSN 1553-7374. PMC 1409806. PMID 16557291.
16. ^ Courtney, David G., Bryan (2017). "Epitranscriptomic enhancement of influenza A virus gene expression and replication". Cell Host & Microbe. 22 (3): 377–386.e5. doi:10.1016/j.chom.2017.08.004. PMC 5615858. PMID 28910636.
17. ^ "Duke School of Medicine professor describes mandatory equity training as Maoist political propaganda, refuses to attend". dukechronicle.com. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
18. ^ "MGM Bryan Cullen, PhD – Biography". mgm.duke.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
19. ^ "MGM FACULTY AWARDS AND HONORS". mgm.duke.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
20. ^ "Institute of Advanced Study : IAS Fellows 2006/07: Publications – Durham University". www.dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
21. ^ "AAAS Members Elected as Fellows". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
22. ^ "73 scientists elected to the American Academy of Microbiology". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
23. ^ "Global List of Highly Cited Puts Duke in Top Ten". today.duke.edu. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
24. ^ SS Hwang; TJ Boyle; HK Lyerly; BR Cullen (1991). "Identification of the envelope V3 loop as the primary determinant of cell tropism in HIV-1". Science. 253 (5015): 71–74\. Bibcode:1991Sci...253...71H. doi:10.1126/science.1905842. PMID 1905842.
25. ^ Courtney, David G.; Kennedy, Edward M.; Dumm, Rebekah E.; Bogerd, Hal P.; Tsai, Kevin; Heaton, Nicholas S.; Cullen, Bryan R. (2017-09-13). "Epitranscriptomic Enhancement of Influenza A Virus Gene Expression and Replication". Cell Host & Microbe. 22 (3): 377–386.e5. doi:10.1016/j.chom.2017.08.004. ISSN 1931-3128. PMC 5615858. PMID 28910636.
26. ^ "PLOS Pathogens: A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal". journals.plos.org. Retrieved 2020-02-25.