Dr. Dean J. Burkin, Founder and CEO is a world expert on the role integrins and laminin play in muscle disease. Dr. Burkin was the first to show the alpha7beta1 integrin can serve as a surrogate for the loss of dystrophin in DMD. Dr. Burkin led pioneering studies to show laminin-111 protein can substitute for the loss of merosin in Laminin-α2 congenital muscular dystrophy . Dr. Burkin has identified protein and small molecule therapeutics which have been patented for the treatment of muscular dystrophy.

Dean received his B.Sc. (1st class Hons) in Developmental Biology and Genetics from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Genetics from the University of Colorado, USA. Dr. Burkin completed postdoctoral training in Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology at Cambridge University, England and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.