Rate My Professor Brian Dewar

Brian Dewar serves as Department Chair and Associate Professor of Biology in the Department of Biology, Environmental Science, and Sustainable Development at Taylor University, where he has been on the faculty since 2010, achieving tenure and assuming the chair position in 2022. He earned a B.S. in Biology from Geneva College in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Toxicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007, with a dissertation titled 'PPARγ-independent mechanisms of Src-kinase activation and EGFR transactivation in response to thiazolidinediones' under advisor Dr. Lee M. Graves. Prior to Taylor, Dewar held postdoctoral positions at UNC-Chapel Hill in Biomedical Engineering and Toxicology from 2007 to 2010, and earlier roles as a laboratory research technician and teaching assistant there.

Dewar's research specializes in the role of TAS1R family taste receptors in regulating bone cell function, including osteoblasts and osteoclasts, as well as nutrient sensing, kinase signaling pathways, and metabolic analysis using NMR spectroscopy. He has authored or co-authored over 15 peer-reviewed publications, including 'Loss of the nutrient sensor TAS1R3 leads to reduced bone resorption' in the Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry (2018), 'Lyn regulates creatine uptake in an imatinib-resistant CML cell line' in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (2020), and 'A sterol-binding protein integrates endosomal lipid metabolism with TOR signaling and nitrogen sensing' in Cell (2012). His awards include the NIEHS Postdoctoral Traineeship from 2008 to 2010. Dewar has received internal grants such as the Lilly Research Grant (2014) and Faculty Mentored Undergraduate Scholarship Programs. He teaches Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Animal Physiology, Pathophysiology of Immunological and Metabolic Chronic Diseases, and Biology Capstone, and co-created the Human Physiology and Preventive Medicine major. He served as President of the Indiana Physiological Society in 2020.