Ezra Burstein, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor & Division Chief

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Ezra Burstein, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Chief of its Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases.

Originally from Lima, Peru, Dr. Burstein received his medical degree from Cayetano Heredia University in Lima. He completed internal medicine residency training at UT Southwestern and advanced training in gastroenterology through a fellowship program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He then completed a research fellowship in immunology at the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institutes of Health.

Board certified in internal medicine and in gastroenterology, he joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2008.

Dr. Burstein′s research training and expertise is in the area of molecular immunology. Broadly, the work in his laboratory is focused on basic mechanisms that control inflammatory responses in human disease, particularly inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Work from the laboratory has investigated the regulation of the NF-kB transcription factor, which led to the discovery of the COMMD protein family. His group also investigated the basic functions of these factors in immune regulation, including the discovery of their role in endosomal protein sorting. More recently, the lab investigated the genetic and molecular basis of altered immunity in patients with defined Mendelian disorders. These studies led to important discoveries, including the identification of cytosolic RNA:DNA hybrids as regulators of the interferon pathway.

Dr. Burstein is active in several professional organizations, including the American Gastroenterological Association, American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Society for Cell Biology, and American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Medical School

Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University (1994)

Residency

UT Southwestern Medical Center (1998), Internal Medicine

Fellowship

University of Michigan Hospitals & Health Centers (2001), Gastroenterology

Graduate School

University of Groningen (2013), Molecular Genetics

• COMMD proteins: We study the regulation of endosomal protein sorting and immune function by members of this protein family.
• Genetics of inflammatory disorders: Out lab investigates the genetic basis of disorders of immune function, particularly affecting the GI tract
• Mucosal immunity and immune-tumor interactions in the GI tract

Featured Publications

SCGN deficiency results in colitis susceptibility.

Sifuentes-Dominguez LF, Li H, Llano E, Liu Z, Singla A, Patel AS, Kathania M, Khoury A, Norris N, Rios JJ, Starokadomskyy P, Park JY, Gopal P, Liu Q, Tan S, Chan L, Ross T, Harrison S, Venuprasad K, Baker LA, Jia D, Burstein E, Elife 2019 Oct 8

Endosomal PI(3)P regulation by the COMMD/CCDC22/CCDC93 (CCC) complex controls membrane protein recycling.

Singla A, Fedoseienko A, Giridharan SSP, Overlee BL, Lopez A, Jia D, Song J, Huff-Hardy K, Weisman L, Burstein E, Billadeau DD, Nat Commun 2019 Sep 10 1 4271

Microbial Sensing by Intestinal Myeloid Cells Controls Carcinogenesis and Epithelial Differentiation.

Miyata N, Morris LL, Chen Q, Thorne C, Singla A, Zhu W, Winter M, Melton SD, Li H, Sifuentes-Dominguez L, Llano E, Huff-Hardy K, Starokadomskyy P, Lopez A, Reese TA, Turer E, Billadeau DD, Winter SE, Burstein E Cell Rep 2018 Aug 24 9 2342-2355

Retriever is a multiprotein complex for retromer-independent endosomal cargo recycling.

McNally KE, Faulkner R, Steinberg F, Gallon M, Ghai R, Pim D, Langton P, Pearson N, Danson CM, Nägele H, Morris LL, Singla A, Overlee BL, Heesom KJ, Sessions R, Banks L, Collins BM, Berger I, Billadeau DD, Burstein E, Cullen PJ Nat. Cell Biol. 2017 Oct 19 10 1214-1225

DNA polymerase-a regulates the activation of type I interferons through cytosolic RNA:DNA synthesis.

Starokadomskyy P, Gemelli T, Rios JJ, Xing C, Wang RC, Li H, Pokatayev V, Dozmorov I, Khan S, Miyata N, Fraile G, Raj P, Xu Z, Xu Z, Ma L, Lin Z, Wang H, Yang Y, Ben-Amitai D, Orenstein N, Mussaffi H, Baselga E, Tadini G, Grunebaum E, Sarajlija A, Krzewski K, Wakeland EK, Yan N, de la Morena MT, Zinn AR, Burstein E Nat. Immunol. 2016 Mar

Endosomal sorting of Notch receptors through COMMD9-dependent pathways modulates Notch signaling.

Li H, Koo Y, Mao X, Sifuentes-Dominguez L, Morris LL, Jia D, Miyata N, Faulkner RA, van Deursen JM, Vooijs M, Billadeau DD, van de Sluis B, Cleaver O, Burstein E J. Cell Biol. 2015 Nov 211 3 605-17

COMMD1 is linked to the WASH complex and regulates endosomal trafficking of the copper transporter ATP7A.

Phillips-Krawczak CA, Singla A, Starokadomskyy P, Deng Z, Osborne DG, Li H, Dick CJ, Gomez TS, Koenecke M, Zhang JS, Dai H, Sifuentes-Dominguez LF, Geng LN, Kaufmann SH, Hein MY, Wallis M, McGaughran J, Gecz J, van de Sluis B, Billadeau DD, Burstein E Mol. Biol. Cell 2014 Oct

COMMD1 promotes the ubiquitination of NF-kappaB subunits through a cullin-containing ubiquitin ligase.

Maine GN, Mao X, Komarck CM, Burstein E EMBO J. 2007 Jan 26 2 436-47

COMMD proteins, a novel family of structural and functional homologs of MURR1.

Burstein E, Hoberg JE, Wilkinson AS, Rumble JM, Csomos RA, Komarck CM, Maine GN, Wilkinson JC, Mayo MW, Duckett CS J. Biol. Chem. 2005 Jun 280 23 22222-32

Lipid kinases VPS34 and PIKfyve coordinate a phosphoinositide cascade to regulate Retriever-mediated recycling on endosomes.

Giridharan SSP, Luo G, Rivero-Rios P, Steinfeld N, Tronchere H, Singla A, Burstein E, Billadeau DD, Sutton MA, Weisman LS, Elife 2022 Jan 11

• Physician Champion of the Year
  Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, North Texas Chapter (2021)
• Berta M. and Cecil O. Patterson Chair in Gastroenterology
  UT Southwestern (2019)
• Physician of the Year
  Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, North Texas Chapter (2017)
• Helmsley Scholar
  Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (2010)
• AGA Research Scholar Award
  Foundation for Digestive Health and Nutrition (2003)
• John S. Miller Award for Outstanding Performance as a House Officer
  UT Southwestern Medical School (1998)
• Valedictorian
  Medical School of Cayetano Heredia University (1994)

• American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases
• American Gastroenterological Association
• American Society for Cell Biology
• American Society for Clinical Investigation