BURKIN LAB

        RESEARCH INTERESTS

Integrin Regulation of Neuromuscular Disease

The association of skeletal muscle fibers with the extracellular matrix is essential to muscle integrity and function. Defects in protein complexes that mediate this association result in muscle disease. Our lab focuses on the role that the α7β1 integrin, a transmembrane receptor that links laminin in the extracellular matrix to the cell cytoskeleton, plays in muscle integrity and disease.

Integrin Regulation of Vascular Smooth
Muscle Development and Disease

Changes in the differentiated state of vascular smooth muscle cells, or phenotypic plasticity, plays a key role in in the initial development and integrity of the vasculature as well as a variety of vascular diseases. Recent work published by our laboratory demonstrated for the first time that the α7β1 integrin is important for the recruitment or survival of cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells and implicates the α7β1 integrin in vascular development and integrity. As part of a collaborative effort through the UNR Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE), our lab now seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms by which the α7β1 integrin mediates these effects.