Distinguished Research Professor & Head Department of Plant Biology Email: jmburke@uga.edu Lab Website: http://www.theburkelab.org/ Lab: Miller Plant Sciences, Rm 4604 Office: Miller Plant Sciences, Rm 4615/17 Biography Dr. Burke grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota as an undergraduate, earning a B.S. in Genetics & Cell Biology (1993). He later received a Ph.D. in Genetics (1999) from the University of Georgia before conducting postdoctoral research at Indiana University. In 2002, he joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University, and in 2006 he returned to UGA as a faculty member in Plant Biology. In 2019, he was named a Distinguished Research Professor, and in 2020 he took over as Head of Plant Biology. His lab studies the origin and evolution of crop plants, with a current focus on adaptation to stressful environments. They also maintain an interest in floral developmental evolution as well as crop-wild gene flow and transgene escape. Research Research Areas: Evolutionary Biology Genomics & Bioinformatics Molecular Genetics Research Interests: Our research interests lie at the intersection of evolutionary genetics and comparative genomics. In our work, we use a variety of tools and approaches to study the molecular basis of evolutionary change in flowering plants, with a primary focus on the sunflower family (i.e., the Compositae or Asteraceae). Research topics include: the origin and evolution of cultivated sunflower, the genomic basis of stress tolerance in sunflower and its wild relatives, and floral developmental evolution. We also maintain an interest in the ecological and evolutionary impact of transgene escape from genetically modified crops into their wild relatives. Selected Publications Selected Publications: Google Scholar ProfileResearchGate Profile Education Education: 1994-1999 Ph.D. in Genetics, University of Georgia1989-1993 B.S. in Genetics and Cell Biology, Minor in Statistics, University of Minnesota Other Information Of note: A Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2020)University of Georgia Distinguished Research Professor (2019)University of Georgia Lothar Tresp Outstanding Honors Professor (2017)University of Georgia Sandy Beaver Excellence in Teaching Award (2016)National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences (2013)University of Georgia Creative Research Medal (2013) Other Affiliations: American Association for the Advancement of Science
