Kevin D. Brown, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
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Kevin D. Brown, Ph.D. |
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Mechanisms that control genome stability Our research interests lie in understanding the factors and mechanisms that maintain stability of the human genome and disease-associated changes in genome structure. This issue is of clear importance since enhanced cancer susceptibility is a likely outcome if mechanisms that insure proper genome integrity are compromised by increasing the likelihood of developing deleterious somatic mutations. Additionally, DNA damaging drugs are commonly used in cancer chemotherapy, so understanding the mechanisms that control response to genotoxic events is important in determining the likely efficacy of a treatment regimen and designing new treatment protocols and therapeutics. Finally, changes in DNA structure, termed epigenetic alterations, are crucial in cancer initiation and progression. Thus, study of genome integrity and structure is a compelling and relevant avenue for investigation in cancer biology. Work in the lab has focused on two areas of cancer genome biology. The first project area is defining cellular signaling that is activated in response to DNA damage. Specifically, we have been investigating signaling pathways that are activated through mismatch repair (MMR)-dependent mechanisms in response to DNA alkylation. One recent finding was the discovery of a MAP kinase pathway that is activated in a MMR-dependent fashion (see figure). The second major project is breast cancer epigenetics. We are defining genes that are novel targets for epigenetic silencing in breast cancer, and using both human tumors and mouse model systems to define how silencing of these genes contributes to tumorigenesis.
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Status: Possibly Accepting New Students This Year Contact Information: office: GCRC Room 392C lab: GCRC Room 380G phone: 352-273-5458 email: kdbrown1@ufl.edu Home Page Biography: I obtained my PhD at University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1991 in Dr. Skip Binder's lab doing basic work on the cytoskeleton. I conducted post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins from 1991-95 in Dr. Don Cleveland's lab working on mechanisms that control chromosome movement during mitosis and Drs. Francis Collins and Dan Tagle's lab at NIH on Ataxia-Telangiectasia from 1995-1998. I took a faulty position at LSU Health Sciences Center in 1998 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and remained there until 2004 when I moved to UF. In addition to being an Associate Professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UF, I am also a Senior Member of the UF Shands Cancer Center and a Program Co-Leader in the Cancer Center. Other professional duties include peer review for several cancer journals and grant review for the US Department of Defense and NIH. |
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