Marie Burdine, PhD

Research Overview

The Burdine Laboratory is focused on developing novel clinical therapeutics for pediatric transplant patients. Most children that require organ transplantation will eventually need retransplantation in their teenage or early adult lives due to chronic allograft rejection, the most common cause of graft loss. My laboratory has developed a small molecule strategy using commercially available DNA-PK inhibitors to block both humoral and cell mediated immunity which cause organ rejection. Our lab is currently focused on preclinical studies of this drug as a transplant immunosuppressant, a strategy that will reduce potential side effects and financial burden. In addition, we are investigating mechanisms used by DNA-PKcs as a master regulator of the immune system and how that might influence cancer and autoimmune diseases.

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