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.
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.
Visiting Senior Researcher
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 – Gopakumar Iyer, M.D.
Current position: Associate Professor at Weill Cornell and Attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. New York City, New York.
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.
2008 – Javier Villafuerte, M.D.
Current position: Instructor. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center / Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
2010-2012 – Lillienne Chan, M.D.
Current position: Private practice. Dallas, Texas.
2007-2013 – Haiying Li, Ph.D.
Current position: Alliance Manager, Office of Technology Development. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.
2010-2014 – Reid Weisberg, M.D.
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatic Diseases. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.
2012-2015 – Nick Norris, M.D.
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology. 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 Scientist, Kyverna. San Francisco, California.
2013-2015 – Luis Sifuentes-Dominguez, M.D.
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.
2013-2016 – Ernesto Llano, M.D.
Current position: Instructor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.
2014-2015 – Linda Geng, M.D., Ph.D.
Current position: CClinical Associate 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, M.D., Ph.D.
Current position: Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Washington University in St. Louis, 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: Assistant Professor of Biology, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
2016-2019 – Qing Chen, M.D.
Current position: Staff Surgeon, Tongji University Medical School. Shanghai, China
2018-2020 – Shuai Tan, Ph.D.
Current position: Assistant Professor, 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
2020-2022 – Jacobo Santolaya, M.D.
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dallas, Texas.
2021-2023 – David Willcutts, M.D.
Current position: Pediatric Hepatology fellowship, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado
2022-2024 – Tiffany Freeny Wright, M.D.
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
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.
