Douglas Burrin

Douglas Burrin is a principal investigator and research scientist at the Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC), USDA/ARS, located at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He leads the Translational Pediatric Nutrition Laboratory, focusing on neonatal nutrition, gut and liver development, and the prevention of diseases such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease (PNALD). His work is conducted within the School of Medicine and leverages the neonatal piglet model due to its physiological similarity to human infants.

• University: Baylor College of Medicine
• School: School of Medicine
• Department: Children's Nutrition Research Center
• Email: dburrin@bcm.edu, doug.burrin@usda.gov

Dr. Burrin’s research centers on how nutritional support—particularly enteral versus parenteral—affects gastrointestinal and hepatic function in preterm and term infants. His lab uses clinically relevant piglet models to study the pathogenesis of NEC, PNALD, and neonatal cholestasis. A key focus is understanding how human milk bioactives (e.g., oligosaccharides, immunoglobulins, lactoferrin) shape the gut microbiome and protect against disease, while formula components like maltodextrins may promote dysbiosis and NEC. His team has made seminal contributions to the biology of fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19), demonstrating its role in bile acid regulation and how its suppression during total parenteral nutrition (TPN) contributes to cholestasis. They have also shown that fish oil-based lipid emulsions (e.g., Omegaven, SMOFlipid) and phytosterol-depleted formulations reduce liver injury in neonates receiving PN.

The most recent publications highlight trends in microbiome-metabolome interactions, FGF19 biology, lipid emulsion safety, and translational applications of pig models. Collectively, these studies emphasize personalized nutritional strategies for preterm infants to prevent metabolic and gastrointestinal complications. Dr. Burrin has mentored several graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, including Lee Call, Valeria Melendez Hebib, Greg Guthrie, and Caitlin Vonderohe. He maintains a long-standing international collaboration with Dr. Per Sangild at the University of Copenhagen, resulting in multiple high-impact publications.

Scientific Awards:

• No specific awards mentioned in the provided text.

Dr. Burrin actively advises trainees and leads federally funded research projects through the USDA/ARS. His lab operates within the state-of-the-art CNRC facility, which includes metabolic kitchens, animal housing, omics platforms, and clinical research infrastructure. The lab fosters a collaborative and dynamic environment, participating in national conferences and interdisciplinary studies aimed at improving pediatric nutritional outcomes. Current projects include investigating how nutrition shapes the gut microbiome to prevent NEC, the biology of FGF19 in infancy, intestinal adaptation to enteral nutrition, and mechanisms of PN-induced cholestatic liver disease.