He performed PhD (1982)[1] and postdoctoral work (1985) in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Harvard University in the laboratory of Mark Ptashne.

[5][6][7][8] Brent's use of prokaryotic repressor proteins in eukaryotes, and development of chimeric proteins containing prokaryotic DNA binding domains, enabled identification of other transcription regulatory domains[9] and gene regulatory technologies including tetracycline-repressor controlled transcriptional repression[10] and the Gal4 and LexA UAS systems used in other model organisms.

[22] In addition to customary advisory work with NIH, NSF, and industrial organizations, in 1997 he began to advise the US government on tactical and strategic considerations for defense against biological attack and emerging diseases.

[23][24][25][26] In 1998, at the Molecular Sciences Institute, he participated in discussions with Rob Carlson and Drew Endy that helped develop some of the ideas underpinning synthetic biology.

[30] In 2003 he shared the Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine for his work on protein interaction methods,[31] and in 2011 he was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science "for outstanding contributions in the area of biochemistry, transcription, genomics, and systems biology.