Colin graduated with an honours degree in Pharmacology in 1988 and took up a research position at the University of Surrey investigating the action of novel muscarinic compounds. In 1990 he moved to the University of Keele to undertake a PhD studying the effect of imidazoline compounds on pancreatic beta cells. On completion of his PhD in 1993 he was appointed as a Post Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Cell Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Leicester to take up a Wellcome Trust-funded Fellowship investigating the pharmacology of purinergic receptors in vascular endothelial cells.

Colin came to the University of Wolverhampton in 1997 to take up the post of Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology. In 2013 he was appointed to the post of Principal Lecturer and Head of Quality for the Faculty of Science and Engineering and in 2018 became Interim Head of the School of Pharmacy.

Current research projects

The molecular pharmacology of P2Y purinergic receptors, and in particular, their role in the maintenance of vascular tone.

Research approaches include:

• Isolation and culture of endothelial cells from human and bovine tissues
• Characterisation of receptor expression and evaluation of functional responses in these cells
• Development of novel ligands and receptor subtype specific antibodies.

Select publications

• Brown, C.A., Brown, J. and Coleman, M. (2008) How drug metabolism influences treatment outcomes. Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism and Toxicology, 3(6), pp.913-915.
• Brown, J. and Brown, C.A. (2003) Evaluation of reactive blue 2 derivatives as selective antagonists for P2Y receptors. Vascular Pharmacology, 39, pp.309-315.
• Brown, J., Reading, S.J., Jones, S., Fitchett, C.J., Howl, J., Martin, A., Longland, C., Michelangeli, F., Dubrova, Y.E. and Brown, C.A. (2000) Critical evaluation of ECV304 as a human endothelial cell model defined by genetic analysis and function responses: A comparison with the human bladder cancer derived epithelial cell line T24/83. Laboratory Investigation, 80, pp.37-45.
• Peptides 2000. Eds J Martinez and J. A Fehrentz circulatory arrest in healthy humans and chronic heart failure patients.  J. Physiology, 547P: PC17.
• Peptides 2000. Eds J Martinez and J.A Fehrentz S.I. Anderson and M.D. Brown (2005). Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis does not alter the decrease in pre-capillary resistance in the human calf in response to small cumulative increases in venous congestion. Clinical Science, 109, pp.303-309
• Brown, J. and Brown, C.A. (2008) Pharmacological evaluation of novel bioactive compounds for P2Y receptors. (In preparation).