Frank has over 14 years experience leading academic research at the U of M and translational research in the Twin Cities biotechnology arena. His contributions in biotechnology include two biotech patents and the co-design of genome expression-profiling technology that led to the founding of Digital Gene Technologies, Inc., and Neurome, Inc. of La Jolla (San Diego), CA. He has authored over 30 scientific research articles and obtained 17 national private and federal academic research grants, covering discoveries and methods in molecular genetics, genomics, biotechnology, onco-, neuro- and endocrine biology, and behavioral pharmacology. Frank also retains part-time his faculty appointments in the U of M Department of Pharmacology, Graduate Program in Neuroscience and NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center. He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1986 with Dr. Clyde Hutchison III, where his discovery of the mammalian "LINES-1" repetitive DNA was cited in Dr. Hutchison's admission to the National Academy of Sciences. Frank's postdoctoral work was with Drs. Greg Sutcliffe and Floyd Bloom at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, where he invented "physiological engineering" using cyclic AMP-elevating transgenes. Frank's current research includes the brain-circuit testing and neurophysiology of tics and compulsions using his "Ticcy Mouse" transgenic model, and the development of new drugs and biologics for physiological disorders of neuronal and secretory epithelial origin.

Academic Lab Websites:

• Pharmacology
• Graduate Program in Neuroscience
• Cancer Center

“Ticcy Mice” News Article: www.neuroscience.umn.edu/ProStu/facprof/startrib.html

Selected Papers:

• Burton, F.H., Hasel, K.W., Bloom, F.E. and Sutcliffe, J.G. (1991). Pituitary hyperplasia and gigantism in mice caused by a cholera toxin transgene. Nature 350, 74-77.

• Campbell, K.M., de Lecea, L., Severynse D.M., Caron, M.G., McGrath, M.J., Sparber, S.B., Sun, L.-Y. and Burton, F.H. (1999). OCD-like behaviors caused by a neuropotentiating transgene targeted to cortical and limbic D1+ neurons. J. Neurosci. 19, 5044-5053.

• Kleinbaum, L.A., Duggan, C., Ferreira, E., Coffey G.P., Buttice, G. and Burton, F.H. (1999). Human chromosomal location, tissue/tumor expression and regulatory function of the ets family gene EHF. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 264, 119-126.

• Nordstrom, E.J. and Burton, F.H. (2002) A transgenic model of comorbid Tourette's syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder circuitry. Mol. Psychiatry, 7, 617-625.