Brown, Michael Stuart (1941-…), is an American physician and medical researcher who made important discoveries about a fatty substance called cholesterol. Brown and his colleague Joseph L. Goldstein revolutionized scientific understanding of how cholesterol can accumulate in arteries, increasing the risk of strokes or heart attacks. For their discoveries, the two scientists shared the 1985 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
In 1973, Brown and Goldstein discovered that the amount of cholesterol in the human body is controlled by molecules called LDL-receptors on the surface of cells. These receptors trap and absorb fatty particles from the bloodstream known as low-density lipoproteins (LDL’s). The two researchers showed that a diet rich in cholesterol lowers the number of these receptors and thereby increases a person’s risk of heart disease. A low-cholesterol diet, on the other hand, raises the number of LDL-receptors and helps prevent heart disease. They also discovered that some people inherit a low number of LDL-receptors and are therefore more prone to heart disease. This inherited disorder is known as familial hypercholesterolemia.
Brown was born in New York City. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1962 and received his M.D. degree from the university’s Medical School in 1966. Brown met Goldstein when the two young doctors served as interns at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In 1968, Brown became a clinical associate at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, studying the chemistry of the digestive system. In 1971, he became a research fellow at Southwestern Medical School of the University of Texas. He and Goldstein began their research on cholesterol there in 1972. Brown became director of the university’s Center for Genetic Diseases in 1977.
