Nils Burger, Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor School Medical School Department Pharmacology Biography Nils started his scientific journey at the University of Freiburg in Germany where he obtained a BSc and MSc in Molecular Medicine and gained his first research experience in mitochondrial biology. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge where he trained with Mike Murphy. His doctoral studies focused on mitochondrial redox biology in the context of cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury. He then pursued a postdoc with Ed Chouchani at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School where he leveraged proteomics in conjunction with computational strategies to understand how redox processes, metabolites, and metals regulate cellular function by modulating the human proteome. Research Interest We are excited about understanding redox- and metabolite-driven regulatory mechanisms that control cellular processes in health and diseases. Our primary interest is the regulation of metabolism and mitochondrial biology with the aim to leverage our findings toward the development of novel therapies. To accomplish these goals we leverage a blend of mass spectrometry-based, computational and biochemical strategies in basic and pre-clinical models. Publications Featured Publications Covariation MS uncovers a protein that controls cysteine catabolism. Xiao H, Ordonez M, Fink EC, Covington TA, Woldemichael HB, Chen J, Jain MS, Rohatgi MH, Wei SM, Burger N, Sharif MA, Jan J, Wang Y, Petrocelli JJ, Blackmore K, Smythers AL, Zhang B, Gilbert M, Cheong H, Khetarpal SA, Smith A, Bogoslavski D, Lei Y, Vaites LP, McAllister FE, Van Bruggen N, Donovan KA, Huttlin EL, Mills EL, Fischer ES, Chouchani ET, Nature 2025 Sep A widespread family of viral sponge proteins reveals specific inhibition of nucleotide signals in anti-phage defense. Chang RB, Toyoda HC, Hobbs SJ, Hadary R, Richmond-Buccola D, Wein T, Osterman I, Burger N, Chouchani ET, Sorek R, Kranzusch PJ, Mol Cell 2025 Aug 85 16 3151-3165.e6 Ergothioneine controls mitochondrial function and exercise performance via direct activation of MPST. Sprenger HG, Mittenbühler MJ, Sun Y, Van Vranken JG, Schindler S, Jayaraj A, Khetarpal SA, Smythers AL, Vargas-Castillo A, Puszynska AM, Spinelli JB, Armani A, Kunchok T, Ryback B, Seo HS, Song K, Sebastian L, O'Young C, Braithwaite C, Dhe-Paganon S, Burger N, Mills EL, Gygi SP, Paulo JA, Arthanari H, Chouchani ET, Sabatini DM, Spiegelman BM, Cell Metab 2025 Apr 37 4 857-869.e9 The human zinc-binding cysteine proteome. Burger N, Mittenbühler MJ, Xiao H, Shin S, Wei SM, Henze EK, Schindler S, Mehravar S, Wood DM, Petrocelli JJ, Sun Y, Sprenger HG, Latorre-Muro P, Smythers AL, Bozi LHM, Darabedian N, Zhu Y, Seo HS, Dhe-Paganon S, Che J, Chouchani ET, Cell 2025 Feb 188 3 832-850.e27 Structural basis of respiratory complex adaptation to cold temperatures. Shin YC, Latorre-Muro P, Djurabekova A, Zdorevskyi O, Bennett CF, Burger N, Song K, Xu C, Paulo JA, Gygi SP, Sharma V, Liao M, Puigserver P, Cell 2024 Nov 187 23 6584-6598.e17 A new era of cysteine proteomics - Technological advances in thiol biology. Burger N, Chouchani ET, Curr Opin Chem Biol 2024 Apr 79 102435 Lactate regulates cell cycle by remodelling the anaphase promoting complex. Liu W, Wang Y, Bozi LHM, Fischer PD, Jedrychowski MP, Xiao H, Wu T, Darabedian N, He X, Mills EL, Burger N, Shin S, Reddy A, Sprenger HG, Tran N, Winther S, Hinshaw SM, Shen J, Seo HS, Song K, Xu AZ, Sebastian L, Zhao JJ, Dhe-Paganon S, Che J, Gygi SP, Arthanari H, Chouchani ET, Nature 2023 Apr 616 7958 790-797 Targeting succinate metabolism to decrease brain injury upon mechanical thrombectomy treatment of ischemic stroke. Mottahedin A, Prag HA, Dannhorn A, Mair R, Schmidt C, Yang M, Sorby-Adams A, Lee JJ, Burger N, Kulaveerasingam D, Huang MM, Pluchino S, Peruzzotti-Jametti L, Goodwin R, Frezza C, Murphy MP, Krieg T, Redox Biol 2023 Feb 59 102600 Rapid and selective generation of H2S within mitochondria protects against cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury. Miljkovic JL, Burger N, Gawel JM, Mulvey JF, Norman AAI, Nishimura T, Tsujihata Y, Logan A, Sauchanka O, Caldwell ST, Morris JL, Prime TA, Warrington S, Prudent J, Bates GR, Aksentijevic D, Prag HA, James AM, Krieg T, Hartley RC, Murphy MP, Redox Biol 2022 Sep 55 102429 Mitochondrial metabolism and bioenergetic function in an anoxic isolated adult mouse cardiomyocyte model of in vivo cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury. Gruszczyk AV, Casey AM, James AM, Prag HA, Burger N, Bates GR, Hall AR, Allen FM, Krieg T, Saeb-Parsy K, Murphy MP, Redox Biol 2022 Jun 54 102368 Results 1-10 of 21 1 2 3 Next Last
