Kevin Burgess

About

Kevin Burgess is a Professor and Rachal Chair in Chemistry at Texas A&M University College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on the design and synthesis of small molecules to bind to protein surfaces, particularly in the context of two programs: the design of small molecules to perturb protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and the design of small molecules to target metastatic cancer cells. He employs novel strategies such as Exploring Key Orientations (EKO), which involves data mining to compare simulated conformers of chemotypes with features at protein-protein interfaces. His work includes screening chemotypes against PPIs of biomedical interest using biophysical and cellular assays, as well as designing small molecules to target cell surface receptors overexpressed in cancer cells, with a particular emphasis on the TrkC receptor in metastatic breast cancer and melanoma. Burgess's background includes a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Arthur C. Cope Scholars Award, Humboldt Research Award, and being a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Nuclear chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Pathology
• Composite material
• Biology
• Biochemistry
• Internal medicine
• Biophysics

Selected publications

• Role of Albumin in Accumulation and Persistence of Tumor-Seeking Cyanine Dyes

  Bioconjugate Chemistry · 2020 · 116 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  -Cl, true tumor-seeking dyes) do so as covalent albumin adducts trapped in tumor tissue via uptake by some cancer cells and via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect.

  DOI

• Hows and Whys of Tumor-Seeking Dyes

  Accounts of Chemical Research · 2021 · 73 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  . This understanding may facilitate more rapid developments of generally applicable actively targeted reagents.

  DOI

• Preparation of Nano-ZrO2 powder via a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method

  Ceramics International · 2021 · 53 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Recent Development of Nanomaterials for Transdermal Drug Delivery

  Biomedicines · 2023-04-07 · 49 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Nano-engineered medical products first appeared in the last decade. The current research in this area focuses on developing safe drugs with minimal adverse effects associated with the pharmacologically active cargo. Transdermal drug delivery, an alternative to oral administration, offers patient convenience, avoids first-pass hepatic metabolism, provides local targeting, and reduces effective drug toxicities. Nanomaterials provide alternatives to conventional transdermal drug delivery including…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• New, potent, small molecule agonists of tyrosine kinase receptors attenuate dry eye disease

  Frontiers in Medicine · 2022-08-25 · 18 citations

  articleOpen access

  Nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and neurotrophin3 (NT-3) bind to tyrosine kinase (Trk) receptors, TrkA, TrkB, and TrkC, respectively. This study investigated the efficacy of novel molecule agonists of Trk receptors in an in vivo model of dry eye disease (DED). Small molecule TrkC agonist (C1) and a pan-Trk agonist (pan) were synthesized for this. C57BL/6J mice were subjected to desiccating stress (DS) and received bilateral eye drops of C1 , pan, or vehicle (…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01DA006554

  NIH · $1.0M · 1998

• NIH Grant R01GM050772

  NIH · $615k · 2000

• EKO Approach To Find Small Molecules That Perturb Protein Protein Interaction

  NIH · $225k · 2014–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Elaine Dec

  Cleveland Clinic

  49 shared

• Kristen Brown

  49 shared

• Kurt C. Stange

  49 shared

• Lori D. Homa

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  49 shared

• Christopher Ticknor

  49 shared

• Apurba Biswas

  49 shared

• Heide Aungst

  49 shared

• Richard F. Weinberger

  Case Western Reserve University

  49 shared

Education

• Ph. D.

  University of Cambridge

  1983

• M. Sci.

  University of East Anglia

  1980

• B. Sci

  University of Bath

  1979

Awards & honors

• Gradipore Chair of Chemistry 2022 - Present
• Fulbright Specialist Award (2024)
• Arthur C. Cope Scholars Award (2023)
• Fulbright Foreign Scholarship (2021)
• Humboldt Research Award (2016)

Similar researchers at Texas A&M University

• Kim Dunbarh-103
• Donald Darensbourgh-81
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