
Two new assistant professors have joined the
School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) faculty this fall, and one is a familiar face.
Dr. Michael Burton, added as an assistant professor of neuroscience, has been a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Texas at Dallas since 2015. He joins
Dr. Jiyoung Park, assistant professor of psychology, as new tenure-track professors in BBS this semester.

A postdoctoral researcher in the
School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences has won a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that is intended to help him further his research and transition to a faculty position. It is the first time that a postdoc from UT Dallas has won the award.
Dr. Michael Burton, who works in the
neuroscience department with associate professor
Dr. Ted Price, will receive approximately $800,000 for winning a K22 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The grant will provide funds for Burton’s research on how the immune system can affect pain.
Dr. Michael Burton, an assistant professor in the
School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, has received the 2019
Mitchell Max Award for Research Excellence from the National Institutes of Health
Pain Consortium.
Burton was selected for his presentation on delayed-onset neuropathic pain in older men. His research suggests that immune system hyperactivity at an advanced age can trigger hyperexcitability in neurons that can produce chronic pain long after an injury.
Scientists in The University of Texas at Dallas’
Center for Advanced Pain Studies (CAPS) have furthered the understanding of how chronic pain functions differently in males and females, including identifying different ways pain begins at the cellular level.
Researchers from the
Department of Neuroscience in the
School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) teamed up with colleagues from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute on two studies published
Aug. 5 and
Sept. 16 in the journal
Pain. Their work builds upon
earlier studies from CAPS faculty regarding sex dimorphisms — differences between the sexes.
“As recently as 2014, laboratories were using only males to analyze what was happening, and that led to failures in clinical and preclinical trials,” said
Dr. Michael Burton, assistant professor of neuroscience and co-senior author of both papers. “It was apparent that something was missing from the equation.