Richard R. Burgess, Ph.D.
James D. Watson Professor Emeritus of
Oncology
B.S., 1964, Chemistry, California
Institute of Technology
Ph.D., 1969, Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology, Harvard University
Postdoctoral research: Laboratory of
Alfred Tissieres, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Office: 411 McArdle Laboratory
Telephone: Office - (608) 263-2635; Lab -
(608) 263-3375
Email: burgess@oncology.wisc.edu
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Research Interests: RNA polymerase and the regulation of transcription
Research Description: Work in my laboratory is focused on prokaryotic and eukaryotic RNA polymerases and transcription machinery and their role in regulation of RNA synthesis. In particular, we study the structure and function of the initiation factor, E. coli RNA polymerase sigma-70 subunit, by a concerted use of protein and physical chemistry, monoclonal antibodies, molecular genetics, and biochemistry. We will use monoclonal antibodies to the seven different E. coli sigmas to measure changes in the total amounts and binding to core polymerase as a function of cell growth conditions. We are using special monoclonal antibodies to immunopurify RNA polymerase II from wheat, yeast, and human cells in order to study the subunit architecture of the enzyme and the interaction of the enzyme with DNA and transcription factors. Protein expression and purification methods are being developed.
Selected recent publications
Burgess, R. R. In Memoriam: Recollections of John Dunn (1944-2012). Protein Expr. Purif., 87(1): 3-4, 2013.
Burgess, R. R., and Watson, J. D. Fusion Tags: A Collection of Papers. Protein Expr. Purif., 81: A1-A2, 2012.
Esch, A. M., Thompson, N. E., Lamberski, J. A., Mertz, J. E., and Burgess, R. R. Production and Characterization of Monoclonal Antibodies to Estrogen-Related Receptor Alpha (ERRa) and Use in Immunoaffinity Chromatography. Protein Expr. Purif., 84: 47-58, 2012.
Boutwell, R. K., Burgess, R. R., Dove, W. F., and Pitot, H. C. On the Passing of Gerald C. Mueller, MD, PhD (1920-2010). Cancer Res., 71: 6909-6910, 2011.
Chumanov, R. S., and Burgess, R. R. Artifact-Inducing Enrichment of Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid and Ethyleneglycoltetraacetic Acid on Anion Exchange Resins. Anal. Biochem., 412: 34-39, 2011.
Chumanov, R. S., Kuhn, P. A., Xu, W., and Burgess, R. R. Expression and Purification of Full-Length Mouse CARM1 from Transiently Transfected HEK293T Cells Using HaloTag Technology. Protein Expr. Purif., 76: 145-153, 2011.
Kuhn, P., Chumanov, R., Wang, Y., Ge, Y., Burgess, R. R., and Xu, W. Automethylation of CARM1 Allows Coupling of Transcription and mRNA Splicing. Nucleic Acids Res., 39: 2717-2726, 2011.
Stalder, E. S., Nagy, L. H., Batalla, P., Arthur, T. M., Thompson, N. E., and Burgess, R. R. The Epitope for the Polyol-Responsive Monoclonal Antibody 8RB13 Is in the Flap-Domain of the Beta-Subunit of Bacterial RNA Polymerase and Can Be Used as an Epitope Tag for Immunoaffinity Chromatography. Protein Expr. Purif., 77: 26-33, 2011.