Rate My Professor Rebecca Burdine

Rebecca D. Burdine is Professor of Molecular Biology in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, where she joined the faculty in 2003. She received her B.S. in Recombinant Gene Technology from Western Kentucky University in 1990 and her Ph.D. from Yale University School of Medicine in 1997 under the advisement of Michael J. Stern. Following her graduate work, Burdine conducted postdoctoral research from 1998 to 2002 in the Developmental Genetics Program at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University, advised by Alexander F. Schier. Her research program, leading the Burdine Lab, employs the zebrafish as a model organism to investigate the developmental mechanisms that establish and interpret the left-right axis in vertebrate embryos. This work examines how left-right patterning aligns with dorsal-ventral and anterior-posterior axes, identifies genes regulating asymmetric organ morphogenesis, and links these processes to human congenital anomalies such as ciliopathies, RASopathies, idiopathic scoliosis, and heart defects. Burdine's contributions have illuminated pathways underlying organ laterality and provided vertebrate models for studying structural birth defects.

Burdine has authored numerous influential publications in top journals, including "Guidelines for morpholino use in zebrafish" (PLoS Genetics, 2017), "Zebrafish models of idiopathic scoliosis link cerebrospinal fluid flow defects to spine curvature" (Science, 2016), "Loss-of-function mutations in the EGF-CFC gene CFC1 are associated with human left-right laterality defects" (Nature Genetics, 2000), "Conserved requirement for EGF-CFC genes in vertebrate left-right axis formation" (Genes & Development, 1999), and "CCDC40 is essential for motile cilia function and left-right axis formation" (Nature Genetics, 2011). Her research has garnered thousands of citations and advanced the fields of developmental genetics and cell biology. Among her honors are election to the Society for Developmental Biology Academy in 2024, the 2024 Harry & Audrey Angelman Award for Meritorious Service from the Angelman Syndrome Foundation, the 2024 Clio Hall Award for Contributions to Graduate Student Professional Development at Princeton, and election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018. Burdine teaches undergraduate course MOL348 Cell and Developmental Biology and graduate course MOL506, and serves as an AB Adviser at Butler College.