Dr Brian Burke
EMBO Associate Member 2026
Email: brian_burke@a-star.edu.sg
Research themes: Cell Biology
EMBO Associate Member 2026
Email: brian_burke@a-star.edu.sg
Research themes: Cell Biology
Biography
Brian Burke received his Ph.D. from Imperial College of the University of London where he carried out investigations into the molecular structure of human erythrocyte spectrin. This was followed by postdoctoral work with Graham Warren at the EMBL in Heidelberg and with Larry Gerace at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. During this period he developed a longstanding interest in the structure and function of the nuclear envelope.
After a period as staff scientist at the EMBL, Dr. Burke joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School in the Department of Cell Biology. He later served as Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Calgary and as the Haskell Hess Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Dr Burke joined IMB in August 2019 as a Principal Investigator. Since 01 April 2020, he joined Skin Research Institute of Singapore (SRIS) as a Research Director.
Research interests
Dr. Burke’s research focus now concerns the mechanisms by which defects in genes encoding nuclear envelope proteins, including human A-type lamins, give rise to a variety of human diseases. These include forms of muscular dystrophy, lipodystrophy and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria, a premature aging syndrome. This work has led to discoveries that reveal how nuclear structures may be integrated with cytoplasmic components and have defined the functions of new families of nuclear membrane proteins, including SUN domain proteins of the inner nuclear membrane and nesprin proteins of the outer nuclear membrane. Together, SUN proteins and nesprins represent pairs of links in molecular chains that span the nuclear envelope and which mechanically couple nuclear structures with the cytoskleton. These SUN-nesprin pairs, which we have termed LINC complexes (for LInkers of the Nucleoskeleton and Cytoskeleton) play a crucial role in nuclear positioning and migration in a wide variety of cell types. In addition, they may provide a new mode of communication between the cytoplasm and nucleus and could potentially mediate aspects of mechanotransduction.
(Left) Overview of LINC complex organization. Inner nuclear membrane SUN domain proteins function as tethers for outer nuclear membrane nesprins. Together these proteins represent links in a molecular chain that connects nuclear components to the cytoskeleton.
(Right) Nesprin 4 (in green) is a new member of the nesprin family and has the capacity to bind kinesin, a microtubule motor protein. Expression of nesprin 4 in HeLa cells is associated with the displacement (indicated by the yellow arrow) of the centrosome (red) from its normal location adjacent to the nucleus. DNA within nuclei is shown in blue.
Both Sun1 and Sun2, the predominant SUN domain proteins of mammalian somatic cells, are localized to the nuclear periphery. DNA within the nucleus is shown in blue.
(Left) LINC complex components (red), including a new nesprin-like protein, are associated with telomeres in primary spermatocytes that are undergoing meiosis. DNA is revealed with a blue fluorescent dye while synaptonemal complexes, the structures that link homologous chromosome pairs, are shown in green. (Right) Aligned stack nuclei.
Group Members
XIE Wei / Alexandre CHOJNOWSKI (Senior Research Fellow)
Martina MARIC / LEE Yin Loon / Rajkumar RAMALINGAM (Research Fellow)
YE Xianqian (Senior Research Officer)
NYEIN Thet Khaing (Research Officer)