People

Our laboratory is focused on the molecular regulation of the inflammatory response, particularly in the intestinal tract. We investigate the regulation of inflammation using a variety of disciplines including molecular and cell biology, mouse models, and human genetics. The laboratory has a long-standing interest in the biological functions of COMMD proteins, which were discovered by our group in 2005.

Burstein Research Lab Members

Meet the Principal Investigator

Ezra Burstein, M.D., Ph.D.

Ezra Burstein, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Burstein received his medical degree from Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru. He completed Internal Medicine residency training at UT Southwestern and Gastroenterology fellowship training at the University of Michigan. Thereafter, he was a research fellow at the Vaccine Research Center at the NIH. After completion of his training, he joined the Faculty at the University of Michigan (2002-2008) and was recruited to UT Southwestern in 2008, joining the Departments of Internal Medicine (Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases) and Molecular Biology. He obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from the University of Groningen in The Netherlands in 2013. He currently serves as Chief of the Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, in the Department of Internal Medicine.

Current Lab Members

Luis Sifuentes-Dominguez, MD

Assistant Professor
Pediatric Gastroenterology

Luis Sifuentes-Dominguez, MD

David Willcutts, M.D.

Clinical Fellow

Department of Pediatrics

Blue geometric pattern

Past Members

2005-2007 – Gabriel Maine, Ph.D.
Current position: Associate Professor, Department of Pathology. Oakland University School of Medicine. Rochester, Michigan. Director, Immunophenotyping Laboratory. Department of Clinical Pathology. Beaumont Hospital. Royal Oak, Michigan.

2005-2013 – Xicheng Mao, Ph.D.
Current position: Bank Business Intelligence Analyst at USAA. Dallas, Texas.

2006-2007 – Aparna Repaka, M.D.
Current position:  Assistant Professor, Gastroenterology Section at VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts. 

2006-2008 – Nathan Gluck, M.D., Ph.D. Co-mentor. Doctoral Program in Biochemistry, Hebrew University in Jerusalem – Israel. 
Current position:  Staff Physician. Sourasky Tel Aviv Medical Center. Senior Lecturer, Tel Aviv University School of Medicine – Israel.

2008-2009 – Iram Zaidi, Ph.D.
Current position: Unknown.

2010-2012 – Lillienne Chan, M.D.
Current position:  Private practice. Dallas, Texas.

2007-2013 – Haiying Li, Ph.D.
Current position:  Grants and Contracts Specialist, Office of Technology Development. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.

2012-2015 – Amika Singla, Ph.D.
Current position:  Instructor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Digestive & Liver Diseases. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.

2010-2014 – Peter Starokadomskyy, Ph.D.
Current position:  Senior Research Scientist, Department of Biophysics. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.

2013-2015 – Luis Sifuentes-Dominguez, M.D.
Current position:  Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.

2014-2015 – Linda Geng, M.D., Ph.D.
Current position: Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

2014-2016 – Rebecca Faulkner, Ph.D.
Current position: Post-doctoral fellow, Dept of Molecular Genetics, UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.

2015-2016 – Kayci Huff-Hardy, M.D., Ph.D.
Current position: Private Practice. St. Louis, Missouri.

2013-2016 – Naoteru Miyata, M.D., Ph.D.
Current position: Private practice. Tokyo, Japan

2016 – Da Jia, Ph.D.
Current position: Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Sichuan University. Chengdu, China.

2014-2019 – Lindsey Morris, Ph.D.
Current position: Instructor, El Centro Community College, Dallas, Texas

2016-2019 – Qing Chen, M.D.
Current position: Staff Surgeon, Tongji University Medical School. Shanghai, China

2018-2020 – Shuai Tan, Ph.D.
Current position: Post-doctoral fellow, Chongqing University. Chongqing, China

2019-2020 – Noor Neema, M.D.
Current position: Pediatric GI fellow, University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

2020-2021 – Colin Bergstrom, M.D. Post-doctoral fellow (supported by TARDIS / BWF program)
Current position: Hematology/Oncology fellow, Stanford University. Palo Alto, California

Join Our Lab

There are frequent opportunities to join our lab.

If you have an interest in the research that we are conducting and would like to be considered for a position in the lab, please send an email including CV and a letter of interest to Ezra Burstein.