About

Logan Browning is a Professor in the Practice of English and Humanities at Rice University, where he has been a faculty member since 1991. He initially joined as an associate editor of SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, later becoming managing editor in 2001, editor in 2007, and publisher and executive editor in 2011. His scholarly expertise includes Victorian literature and publishing history, and he has contributed to significant reference works such as the Oxford Reader's Companion to Charles Dickens and The Oxford Handbook on Dickens. Browning is also a faculty member of the Dickens Universe at the University of California Santa Cruz. His current research interests extend to the study of writing in and about New Orleans. In addition to his academic pursuits, he serves as an advisory editor and reviewer for the Hopkins Review and has reviewed for the Houston Chronicle. Browning has held leadership roles including serving on the board of directors for the Friends of Fondren Library at Rice and acting as president of the Houston Philosophical Society during their centennial year 2019-2020. He is a faculty associate of Hanszen College.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Evolutionary biology
• Cell biology
• Zoology

Selected publications

• Experiment P-1159 Genetic Effects of the Space Environment on the Reproductive Cells of Drosophila Adults and Pupae

  NASSP · 1971-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
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• Mutational responses of insects in the Biosatellite II experiment.

  PubMed · 1969-01-01 · 2 citations

  article

  Genetic effects associated with space flight include mutation induction by the space flight itself, and enhancements or antagonisms of radiation-induced mutations. The conditions of space flight vary in mutagenic effectiveness from no response at all to responses nine times that found in ground-based controls. The test systems follow the sensitivity pattern: spermatogonial translocations > oogonial and oocyte nondisjunction > recessive lethality of stages in spermatogenesis > dominant lethality of stages in spermatogenesis. Large enhancing and antagonistic effects of space flight in conjunction with radiation were observed in the Biosatellite II experiment. The most surprising one was the elimination of the effect of 2500 R by space flight in Habrobracon oogonia where the effects of 500 R normally can be easily observed. Two sets of parameters are considered in attempts to explain the responses: (1) the nature of the biological targets, and (2) the particular conditions of space flight that are responsible for the effects.

  Publisher

• The mutational spectrum produced in Drosophila by N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine

  Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis · 1969-07-01 · 31 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
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• EFFECTS OF THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT ON RADIATION-INDUCED DAMAGE IN THE REPRODUCTIVE CELLS OF PUPAE AND ADULT DROSOPHILA

  The Japanese Journal of Genetics · 1968-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: Mutagenic Effects in <i>Drosophila</i>

  Science · 1968-09-06 · 29 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  d-Lysergic acid diethylamide causes a significant increase in recessive lethal mutations in the X chromosome of Drosophila males after intraperitoneal injection of massive doses.

  PublisherDOI

• Effects of the Space Environment on Radiation-Induced Damage in the Reproductive Cells of Pupae and Adult Drosophila

  BioScience · 1968-06-01 · 10 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Development and Use of Advance Technique for Ultraviolet /uv/ and Heavy Particle Treatment of Drosophila Germ Cells Progress Report, 1 Jul. - 31 Dec. 1967

  NASA Technical Reports Server (NASA) · 1967-12-31

  article1st authorCorresponding
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• A COMPARISON OF THE RATE OF EXCEPTIONALS RECOVERED AMONG PROGENY OF FEMALES HETEROZYGOUS FOR LOZENGE PSEUDOALLALES IN <i>TRANS</i> AND <i>CIS</i> ARRANGEMENTS IN DROSOPHILA

  Genetics · 1965-04-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• STUDIES IN ULTRAVIOLET MUTAGENESIS IN DROSOPHILA INVOLVING TREATMENT OF INSEMINATED FEMALES

  Genetics · 1964-10-01 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  IN the study of mutagenesis, the employment of ultraviolet light as a mutagenic agent has certain advantages as compared with X rays. For example, relatively few of the mutant changes induced by ultraviolet belong to the class of minute deletions which are difficult to distinguish phenotypically or cytologically from point mutations and more seem to be actual point mutations than in the case of X rays, as first clearly shown by STADLER (1941 ) . Ultraviolet is therefore a very suitable agent in studies which touch on the intimate nature of the mutagenic process. Moreover, it is probable that ultraviolet induced mutations are more like the naturally occurring ones than are the X-ray induced, since chromosomal rearrangements are comparatively rare among both the ultraviolet induced (MULLER and MACKENZIE 1939) and the spontaneous, but not the X-ray. The relative similarity between ultraviolet-induced and spontaneous mutations may be due in part at least to the fact that a photon of ultraviolet as a rule has only enough energy to sensitize chemically a single atom or group of atoms, resulting in a very localized effect, as contrasted to the much greater genetic damage often resulting from X rays and other high energy radiation. Because of the localized action of ultraviolet, the percent of fractionals among the mutations induced by ultraviolet might offhand be expected to be relatively high. However, ultraviolet light (UV) has very low penetrating power, and therefore can be effectively used only on genetic material which is close to the outside surface of the organism, as in the case of microorganisms and the pollen of plants. In Drosophila, it is effective on the polar cap (the early germ track, present at one end of the developing egg). But the statistical error of the mutation rates resulting from treatment of the polar cap is high because mutagenic hits are multiplied in step with the multiplication of the germ cells in the course of development, and unless the experiments are conducted on a very large scale, a few ‘‘lucky’’ hits resulting in large clusters might cause large deviations from the actual rates. Treatment of the mature sperm cells would circumvent this statistical error. Moreover, in order to detect fractional mutations, as revealed by mosaicism among the progeny, it is necessary to apply the treatment to sperm cells or other post-meiotic stages. However, as above implied, the sperm cannot be effectively treated with UV when applied to the surface of a mature Drosophila male. The mutation rate induced early in the present studies by this method was only between .5 and 1

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• FAILURE TO DETECT AN ANTI-MUTAGENIC EFFECT OF CHLORAMPHENICOL IN ULTRAVIOLET-TREATED POLAR CAP CELLS (EARLY GERM TRACK) OF DROSOPHILA

  Genetics · 1963-04-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The ultraviolet-induced rate of second chromosome lethals in Drosophila was not significantly reduced by posttreatment of ultraviolet-treated polar-cap cells (the earlygerm track) with chloramphenicol, even when the parents of the treated eggs and the developing embryos were in addition reared on chloramphenicol-containing food, as indicated by the following data: ultraviolet- induced rate without chloramphenicol posttreatment, 2.0 450 deg C in a 0.7 percent; with posttreatment, 1.3 450 deg C in a 0.7 percent. The control rate was 0.7 450 deg C in a 0.3 percent. Although the ultraviolet-induced rate was rather low (2.0 450 deg C in a 0.7 percent), the rate ofter chloramphenicol treatment (1.3 450 deg C in a 0.7 percent) was still close enough to the induced rate to indicate that the chloramphenicol was not obliterating the induced rate, contrary to what would have occurred in the case of bacteria. (auth)

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Edgar Altenburg

  17 shared

• Irwin I. Oster

  Fayetteville State University

  1 shared

• Brenda Buckhold

  1 shared

• Anna R. Whiting

  1 shared

• R. C. von Borstel

  1 shared

• John V. Slater

  1 shared

• Richard H. Smith

  1 shared

• Daniel S. Grosch

  1 shared