Martin D. Burke

Martin D. Burke is the May and Ving Lee Professor for Chemical Innovation in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with additional affiliations in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Beckman Institute, and Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. His research focuses on molecular prosthetics and automated small molecule synthesis. He earned his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins, PhD from Harvard, and MD from Harvard/MIT.

Research interests include iterative cross-coupling strategies for drug synthesis, development of renal-sparing antifungals, and molecular prosthetics for cystic fibrosis. He pioneered the SHIELD saliva testing program during the pandemic, deployed globally over 20 million times. His work spans 4 biotech companies with 5 clinical-stage drug candidates.

Awards include the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship, Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, and multiple teaching excellence recognitions. His lab emphasizes democratizing molecular innovation through automation and AI integration.