Dr. Michael Burton
- Associate Professor of Neuroscience
- Fellow, Eugene McDermott Distinguished Professor
The McDermott Professorships were established in August 2017, funded by an anonymous gift, with the goal of providing early career support and recognition to faculty members who have established extraordinary records of research productivity, teaching excellence and university service, and who show promise of being leaders of the UT Dallas faculty in the future.
“The objective of our studies is to understand the impact of lifestyle choices, advanced aging and inflammation on pain development, reproduction and metabolic function. The mechanisms that underlie these maladaptive processes are highly sought after because current therapeutics fail to offer relief to a large percentage of patients. I am honored to receive this support to help my lab’s translational research goals and to continue my efforts in building diversity in science.”
Dr. Michael Burton studies how the immune system communicates with the peripheral nervous system to regulate pain, reproductive physiology and energy homeostasis. His Neuroimmunology and Behavior Lab at The University of Texas at Dallas uses translational molecular and integrative neurobiology to learn how lifestyle factors like diet, alcohol and surgery influence neuroimmune interactions across age and gender.
He has investigated the effects of cell-specific toll-like receptor 4 signaling on neuropathic pain, inflammatory pain and metabolic stress, as well as the impact of peripheral lipid signaling on diet-induced diabetes and energy homeostasis, and glucose metabolism on neuroinflammation and feeding
Burton has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as The Journal of Neuroscience, Nature’s Scientific Reports, Neuropharmacology, Pain Medicine, Journal of Neuroimmunology, and Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.
In 2016 he received the only K22 grant that year from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke intended to help a postdoc transition to a faculty position. In 2019 he received the National Institute of Health Pain Consortium Mitchell Max Award for Research Excellence. He was honored with Congressional recognition for science research and leadership in 2021, and he was chosen as a Society for Neuroscience Rising Star/SFNova Lecturer. He also has been selected for honors from the Rita Allen Foundation, the Endocrine Society, the American Pain Society and the American Society for Cell Biology.
Burton joined the UT Dallas faculty as an assistant professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences in 2017, and in 2019 was a founding member of the Center for Advanced Pain Studies. Burton also has an affiliate appointment in UTD’s Center for Vital Longevity.
Burton previously was a postdoctoral fellow working in hypothalamic research at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He earned his PhD in animal sciences, immunophysiology and behavior from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he also completed a Bachelor of Science.