Prof Tom Brenna completed studies in Nutrition and in Chemistry, and his formative research experiences were broadly interdisciplinary. Professionally, this is reflected in graduate field memberships in fields that are centered in Cornell's four large colleges: Nutrition (CHE and CALS), Food Science and Technology (CALS); Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Arts); Geological Sciences (Engineering and CALS), and in a long-standing collaboration with a prominent former member of Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. His research group has been funded by three institutes at the NIH (NIGMS, NEI, NICHD) and has included at least one active R01 continuously since 1992. These grants have supported fundamental work in the nutrition of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and development of advanced mass spectrometry instrumentation and techniques.

Most of the work of the Brenna Lab ties basic research to public health, and is ultimately motivated by potential application to specific health issues. Some studies are designed with particular, topical public health questions in mind, and the data from these studies has sometimes had immediate implications for public health. The most prominent examples of this type of work are studies in baboons and in piglets to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and metabolism of food sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids. This work often employs stable isotope tracer techniques and molecular mass spectrometry to probe metabolism. Other projects, particularly those that develop instrumentation and methods for mass spectrometry techniques, have a longer term payoff. They are sometimes undertaken for the challenge of making measurements that have never been possible previously, but usually have eventual applications. An example of this area is the development of a novel gas phase reaction for derivatization of polyunsaturated fatty acids for facile determination of double bond structure, which has found applications associated with safety of edible oils, including detection of trans fatty acids. The most recent work involves development of methods for more precise and rapid detection of endogenous performance enhancing drugs, particularly testosterone.