Rae Lyn Burke, Ph.D.
SRI International

Rae Lyn Burke, Ph.D., has extensive experience in the development, production, and preclinical and human clinical testing of recombinant biological products, especially in the field of vaccines. Her expertise is evidenced by her authorship of 79 publications and more than 28 patents, receipt of NIH grant funding in the field of T cell immunology, and, for the past 4 years , by participation as a member of the NIH Special Study Section for Vaccines.

Dr. Burke received her Ph.D. in microbiology from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and then pursued postdoctoral studies in molecular biology at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, under the direction of Dr. Bruce Alberts. In 1981, she joined Chiron Corporation--as employee number 6--as a Scientist and contributed to the development of the hepatitis B vaccine and the cloning and expression of clotting factor VIII. Thereafter, as the Senior Director, Virology, she initiated and led a program to develop vaccines and vaccine adjuvants, particularly for the prevention and diagnosis of herpesvirus infections (HSV, CMV, EBV). This work pioneered the concept of using vaccines in novel ways as immunotherapeutics, not merely to prevent but also to treat chronic diseases. She also directed the Department of Viral Immunobiology, a group responsible for assaying immune responses of humans to many vaccines in clinical trials, including vaccines to HIV, HBV, HCV, HSV, CMV, and DPT.

Since founding a consulting group, Biotechnology Solutions (www.Biotechsolns.com), in 1998, she has worked with more than 20 diverse clients, including large and small biotechnology companies, venture capital organizations, and law firms, evaluating technology and intellectual property and consulting on the development of vaccines and therapeutics. Clients of public record have included Elan Pharmaceuticals (vaccine for Alzheimer's disease), Zonagen (vaccines and adjuvant for prostate cancer and anti-fertility), NIH (vaccines for HIV), GeneTrol as VP Research and Development (interferons and cytokines for infectious diseases, cancer, and autoimmune diseases), and Opexa as VP of Research (vaccine for multiple sclerosis). Dr. Burke recently joined SRI as Senior Director of Vaccine Development. .

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