Contributions by role
Contributions by subject area
Burton Dickey
Summary
Burton F. Dickey is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has studied vesicle traffic since fellowship training more than thirty years ago, and for the past seventeen years his principal focus has been airway mucin secretion. His laboratory uses a mouse genetic approach, knocking out or overexpressing genes in airway secretory cells to study their function. This approach also allows the use of these genetically modified mice in models of pathologic challenge. Together, this provides fundamental insight into the mechanism of mucin secretion and how its dysregulation contributes to pathophysiology. He has also contributed to related work on inducible epithelial resistance to infection, promotion of lung carcinogenesis by inflammation, and modulation of inflammation by β2-agonists. As a clinician, Dr. Dickey focuses on diseases of the airways to promote the transfer of knowledge between laboratory and clinic. He has founded two biotechnology companies, Pulmotect and Exotect, to develop therapeutics to treat respiratory infections and muco-obstructive lung diseases, respectively.