The Beautiful Life of Taylor Morrisette Brown

Taylor M. Brown was born in Fresno, California on April 27, 1993 into a loving family that included her two parents, Marci and Lee Brown, her two older sisters, Erin and JaNay, and a host of aquatic pets including Oscar and Suckerdoo. Taylor and her family built many memories together and cherished each others company in many ways such as travelling to Morro Bay, watching movies at Edwards theater, eating way too many Christmas cookies and way too much candy while watching "The Long Charlie Brown," or Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, and making silly jokes and voices that only her sisters would understand and appreciate.

Taylor was a bright, contemplative child with a very large extended family who colored her life with love and light. Growing up, Taylor was especially close to her cousins Myles and Stephanie, and the many others who went with her to the Big Fresno Fair, Cal Skate, Fashion Fair Mall, and River Park. She also built strong relationships with many other family members, like Aunt Netty and her cousin Aaron who she had unbreakable bonds with.

Taylor experienced many things that made her very happy such as drinking tea and eating sushi, which she did as often as she could. She was enamored with Harry Potter (the books and movies) and prided her Hufflepuff placement. As Taylor grew, she became more and more interested in Japanese culture and enjoyed Totoro and other Japanese characters.

As far as intelligence, Taylor was brilliant. She excelled academically from Grace Christian school through Ayer Elementary, Computech Middle School, and then Sunnyside High School where she graduated as a validictorian. She was funny, popular, and cerebral and she cared deeply about her loved ones. Taylor played basketball all through her school years and ran cross country where she made life-long friendships that she cherished. She was outgoing and loving, but she was never afraid to share her opinions. During high school, Taylor also realized her love of biology which would take her far.

Taylor got accepted into UCLA and continued to shine academically and socially. She made more and more friends and participated in a number of extracurricular and academic activities such as Dance Marathon, the MARC Research Scholars Program, and the Program for Excellence in Education and Research in the Sciences through the UCLA Undergraduate Research Center. In June 2015, she received her Bachelors of Science degree in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics with a minor in Biomedical Research from the University of California, Los Angeles. She performed her Undergraduate Research in the lab of Dr. Heather R. Christofk, where she studied mutant versions of ribonucleotide reductase small subunit (RRM2) and their potential effect on viral replication and cellular metabolism. She also worked in the lab of Dr. Tyler Jacks at MIT for 10 weeks during the summer, studying the effects of mutated circadian rhythm genes on cancer progression. On her graduation day, she walked with her best friend, Michelle, as the two celebrated their accomplishment together.

During her time at UCLA, Taylor had so many beautiful experiences such as travelling to Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Michigan, Hawaii, and Japan (to name a few of the destinations she visited). She thoroughly enjoyed snowboarding and purchased an annual pass and snowboarding gear frequenting mountain peaks to slide through the snow. She did this with a range of friends, including Ben, who was her partner and close confidant. Taylor also loved jumping on the Big Blue Bus and heading to Venice Beach and Santa Monica to sit in the surf and sand and sun. She especially enjoyed outings with her Daddy, who she called "Papa Bear" and she would capture beautiful stills of her and her father and their adventures.

After graduating from UCLA with her Bachelor's degree, Taylor continued on to pursue her PhD. She was a 5th year graduate student (PhD candidate) in the Molecular Biology Interdepartmental PhD program at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her focus area was Immunity, Microbes, and Molecular Pathogenesis. She was pursuing her PhD in the lab of Dr. Elissa Hallem, working with parasitic nematodes. Her interests included Immunology, Parasitology, Cancer Biology, and Microbiology. She wanted to pursue a career in academia as a host pathogen interaction scientist and apply the knowledge she acquired through her research and schooling to teach and mentor young scientists. She hoped to one day become involved in the development of treatments for pathogenic infections, to help those suffering from disease and infections.

Taylor also served as an undergraduate and graduate student researcher, a graduate student mentor trainer for future faculty, a teaching assistant, and an Exceptional Research Opportunity Program Participant. Additionally, she received numerous honors and awards including:

• HHMI Gilliam Graduate Fellowship, HHMI
• Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation
• Cellular and Molecular Biology Trainee, National Institutes of Health
• Elma Gonzalez Award, Elma Gonzalez; MARC;CAMP
• Dean’s Scholar Award, UCLA Graduate Program
• Eugene V. Cota Robles Fellowship, UCLA
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunities Program, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• MARC Research Scholar, Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC)
• Center for Academic and Research Excellence (CARE) Fellow and Scholar, UCLA Undergraduate Research Center
• Biomedical Sciences Enrichment Program (BISEP), UCLA Undergraduate Research Center
• Bunche Alumni Scholar, UCLA Alumni
• Program for Excellence in Education and Research in the Sciences, UCLA Undergraduate Research Center
• California Scholarship Federation (CSF) Life Member, CSF.

On December 12, 2019, Taylor left this world. Although she is no longer with us physically, the impact she has had on our hearts will be everlasting. While we miss her laughter, her touch, her silliness, and her brilliance, we take solace in knowing that we were lucky enough to have had such a bright light in our lives for the 26 years that we got to have her here with us. We are also beyond proud to call her Dr. Taylor M. Brown, as she was awarded her Doctorate in Biology from UCLA, posthumously.

There is not a day that passes in which we do not think about you.

You are forever in our hearts, Taylor. We miss you immensely and we love you infinitely.