Lindsay Burns, PhD

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About

lindsay burns

Lindsay Burns, PhD

Lindsay has built a life at the intersection of scientific rigor, persistence, and high performance.

Raised in Montana on a fourth-generation ranch, she went on to study psychobiology at Harvard and earn her PhD in neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, UK. She is an author on 40 peer-reviewed publications and a named inventor on 21 U.S. patents. For over ten years, Lindsay reviewed grant applications for the National Institute on Aging, a part of NIH.

Lindsay has taken novel scientific ideas from discovery through clinical development, including advancing a novel small molecule drug (simufilam) from target discovery to Phase 3 clinical testing.

For nearly 20 years, she trained under legendary drug developer Nadav Friedmann, PhD, MD. Her biotechnology career spans pain, neuropharmacology, oncology and Alzheimer’s disease research.

Earlier, Lindsay spent eight years on the U.S. Rowing Team, earning four World Championship medals and an Olympic silver medal. She continues to bring a highly competitive drive to science, consulting, and the challenges she chooses to pursue.

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Lindsay’s Approach

Lindsay has learned to aim high, dig deep and excel, whether medaling at the Olympics or solving difficult research problems.

Working with academic collaborators, Lindsay first discovered that filamin A regulates opioid receptor signaling changes underlying opioid tolerance and dependence, and that ultra-low-dose naloxone and naltrexone bind filamin A to prevent those changes and the tolerance, dependence and addictive properties of opioids.

With curiosity and hard work, Lindsay and collaborator Hoau-Yan Wang discovered that filamin A also interacts with the alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor to enable amyloid-beta’s toxic signaling through this receptor that hyperphosphorylates tau. After validating filamin A as a novel protein target for Alzheimer’s disease, the team selected simufilam as a lead therapeutic candidate. Lindsay helped advance simufilam from preclinical proof-of-concept to IND-enabling studies and clinical development through pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials.

Lindsay’s biotechnology and drug development experience spans multiple disease areas – pain, addiction, cancer, autoimmune disease, and neurodegeneration. Her work includes therapeutic development of novel small molecules and antibodies at innovative companies including Neurex/Elan Pharmaceuticals, Abgenix, and Pain Therapeutics/Cassava Sciences.

Lindsay’s training from basic research to drug discovery and development gives her a perspective on research strategy that bridges molecular neuropharmacology, preclinical and translational neuroscience, regulatory affairs and clinical trials.

lindsay burns

Today, she works as an independent consultant, supporting startup companies and grant-writing initiatives while continuing to engage with emerging research.

Beyond Neuroscience

Rowing remains an important part of Lindsay’s life, and she continues to race competitively. The sport’s combination of technical precision, endurance, teamwork, and relentless incremental improvement parallels many of the qualities she brings to her scientific work.

As a creative outlet, Lindsay wheel-throws functional porcelain pieces and uses surface-design techniques for a second layer of artistry. She views the tactile and visual creativity of pottery as keeping her brain healthy, flexible and refreshed.

Lindsay maintains strong ties to the Montana community where she grew up, supporting her hometown community foundation. 

What Comes Next

After a career that has crossed disciplines, institutions, and industries, Lindsay remains interested in consequential scientific problems and the people working to solve them. Her current consulting work allows her to bring decades of experience in neuroscience, drug development, collaboration, and scientific communication to emerging companies and research initiatives—while continuing to follow the questions she believes are worth pursuing.