Brandon obtained his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He subsequently received his postdoctoral training at both the Hubrecht Laboratory (Utrecht) and UCSF.  In 2007, Brandon joined Sirna Therapeutics following its acquisition by Merck and was involved in the early efforts focused on developing liver targeting siRNA therapies.  In 2011, Brandon joined Amgen’s Cardiometabolic Disorders department.  He has over 10 years of experience developing treatments for metabolic disorders and has led or contributed to the development of multiple programs.  His current research efforts focus on novel medicines to treat heart failure.

Featured Publications

Ason B, Chen Y, Guo Q, Hoagland KM, Chui RW, Fielden M, Sutherland W, Chen R,  Zhang Y, Mihardja S, Ma X, Li X, Sun Y, Liu D, Nguyen K, Wang J, Li N, Rajamani S, Qu Y, Gao B, Boden A, Chintalgattu V, Turk JR, Chan J, Hu LA, Dransfield P, Houze J, Wong J, Ma J, Pattaropong V, Véniant MM, Vargas HM, Swaminath G, Khakoo AY. Cardiovascular response to small-molecule APJ activation. JCI Insight. 2020 Apr 23;5(8). pii: 132898. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.132898. PubMed PMID: 32208384. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32208384/

Mihaila R, Ruhela D, Galinski B, Card A, Cancilla M, Shadel T, Kang J, Tep S, Wei J, Haas RM, Caldwell J, Flanagan WM, Kuklin N, Cherkaev E, Ason B. Modeling the Kinetics of Lipid-Nanoparticle- Mediated Delivery of Multiple siRNAs to Evaluate the Effect on Competition for Ago2. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids. 2019 Jun 7; 16:367-377. doi: 10.1016/j.omtn.2019.03.004. Pub 2019 Mar 23. PubMed PMID:30991218; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6463220. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6463220/

Tao C, Shkumatov AA, Alexander ST, Ason BL, Zhou M. Stigmasterol accumulation causes cardiac injury and promotes mortality. Commun Biol. 2019 Jan 16; 2:20. doi:10.1038/s42003-018-0245-x. eCollection 2019. PubMed PMID: 30675518; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6335236. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6335236/

Ason B, van der Hoorn JW, Chan J, Lee E, Pieterman EJ, Nguyen KK, Di M, Shetterly S, Tang J, Yeh WC, Schwarz M, Jukema JW, Scott R, Wasserman SM, Princen HM, Jackson S. PCSK9 inhibition fails to alter hepatic LDLR, circulating cholesterol, and atherosclerosis in the absence of ApoE. J Lipid Res. 2014 Nov;55(11):2370-9. doi: 10.1194/jlr.M053207. Epub 2014 Sep 25. PubMed PMID: 25258384; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4617138. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4617138/

Tep S, Mihaila R, Freeman A, Pickering V, Huynh F, Tadin-Strapps M Stracks A, Hubbard B, Caldwell J, Flanagan WM, Kuklin NA, Ason B. Rescue of Mtp siRNA-induced hepatic steatosis by DGAT2 siRNA silencing. J Lipid Res. 2012 May;53(5):859-67. doi: 10.1194/jlr.M021063. Epub 2012 Feb 21. Erratum in: J Lipid Res. 2012 Nov;53(11):2484. Huyhn, Felicia [corrected to Huynh, Felicia]. PubMed PMID: 22355095; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3329385. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3329385/

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California- San Francisco
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Hubrecht Laboratory
Ph.D., Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison