Brose received a bachelor's degree in Biology and European history from Brown University in 1990.
After her undergraduate work, she became a technician at an MIT molecular biology lab for about five years.
Her research conducted in the laboratory of Marc Tessier Lavigne focused on axon guidance mechanisms in the developing spinal cord.
That year, she applied for employment at the scientific journal Neuron towards the end of her graduate studies at UCSF while doing lab work in neuroscience, and was subsequently hired.
In collaboration with Corey Goodman’s laboratory at UC-Berkeley, her research led to the identification of the receptor Robo and its ligand Slit as a new family of axon guidance molecules".