Kevin Brown Laboratory

Kevin Brown, Ph.D.

Kevin Brown, Ph.D., biographical sketch and research interests

The laboratory of Dr. Kevin Brown focuses on the identification and functional characterization of cancer risk alleles, with a focus on melanoma. Dr. Brown works closely with other DCEG Investigators as well as a team of international collaborators investigating the genetics of melanoma risk, performing both genome-wide association studies (GWAS), as well as whole-genome and –exome sequencing of high-risk melanoma families to identify novel susceptibility loci and genes. In addition, Dr. Brown’s lab focuses on the functional characterization of melanoma risk loci, including identification and characterization of causal sequence variants and genes and the mechanisms by which they influence disease risk.

Lab members have a range of skills and education, with fellows focused on either wet-lab or bioinformatics-based projects. As they focus on their specific research topics, they benefit from experience performing hands-on research, mentored by Dr. Brown, formal co-mentors within LTG or other DCEG branches, more experienced fellows, and other peers within LTG.

Scientific Staff

Mai Xu, Ph.D.
Biologist and Lab Manager

Linh Bui-Raborn, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist

Current Fellows

Aiden O'Brien, Postdoctoral Fellow
Rohit Thakur, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow 
Jeremy Bravo-Narula, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Sophie Papiernik, B.S., Predoctoral Fellow
Andrew Wang, B.S., Predoctoral Fellow
 

Over the years, fellows working in Dr. Brown's lab have progressed in their careers. Former postdoctoral fellows have moved upward in DCEG or elsewhere in NIH, while most postbaccalaureate fellows moved on to graduate and/or medical school. Alumni include: 

Postdoctoral Fellows:

• Jiyeon Choi, Earl Stadtman investigator
• Tongwu Zhang, Earl Stadtman investigator
• Jun Fang
• Hyunkyung Kong
• Rebecca Hennessey
• Jessica Scales

Postbaccalaureate Fellows:

Johansson PA, […] Brown KM. Rare Germline Variants in CDKN2A-Negative Children and Adolescents With Cutaneous Melanoma. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2026.

Thakur R, Xu M, […] Brown KM. Mapping chromatin interactions at melanoma susceptibility loci uncovers distant cis-regulatory gene targets. American Journal of Human Genetics. 2025.

Zhang T, Klein A, Sang J, Choi J, Brown KM. ezQTL: A Web Platform for Interactive Visualization and Colocalization of QTLs and GWAS Loci. Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics. 2022.

Zhang T, Choi J, […] Brown KM. Cell-type-specific meQTLs extend melanoma GWAS annotation beyond eQTLs and inform melanocyte gene-regulatory mechanisms. American Journal of Human Genetics. 2021. 

Choi J, Zhang T, [...] Brown K. Massively parallel reporter assays of melanoma risk variants identify MX2 as a gene promoting melanoma. Nature Communications. 2020.

Landi MT, Bishop DT, [...] Machiela MJ, et al. Genome-wide association meta-analyses combining multiple risk phenotypes provide insights into the genetic architecture of cutaneous melanoma susceptibility. Nature Genetics. 2020.

Zhang T, Choi J, [...]Brown K. Cell-type-specific eQTL of primary melanocytes facilitates identification of melanoma susceptibility genes. Genome Research. 2018.

Crawford NG, [...] Kovacs MA, Xu M, et al. Loci associated with skin pigmentation identified in African populations. Science. 2017.

Choi J, Xu M, [...] Brown K. A common intronic variant of PARP1 confers melanoma risk and mediates melanocyte growth via regulation of MITF. Nature Genetics. 2017.

Ghislaine S, Purdue MP, Brown KM, [...] Chanock SJ. Genome-wide association study identifies multiple risk loci for renal cell carcinoma. Nature Communications. 2017.

Fang J, Jia J, Makowski MM, [...] Amundadottir LT. Functional characterization of a multi-cancer risk locus on chr5p15.33 reveals regulation of TERT by ZNF148. Nature Communications. 2017.

Zhang T, Xu M, Makowski MM, [...] Brown KM. SDHD promoter mutations ablate GABP transcription factor binding in melanoma. Cancer Research. 2017.

Makowski MM, Willems E, Fang J, et al. An interaction proteomics survey of transcription factor binding at recurrent TERT promoter mutations. Proteomics. 2016.

Yokoyama S, Woods SL, [...] Brown KM. A novel recurrent mutation in MITF predisposes to familial and sporadic melanoma. Nature. 2011.