View source for Dean Burk

{{Infobox Person 
| name = M. Dean Burk, PhD
| image = Dean Burk 1954.jpg
| image_size = 
| caption = National Library of Medicine USA  
| birth_date =  1904
| birth_place = 
| death_date =  1988
| death_place = 
| occupation = 
| spouse = 
| children =  
| website =  
}} 
'''Dean Burk''' (March 21, 1904 - Oct. 6 1988) was a co-discoverer of [[biotin]], medical researcher, and a cancer researcher at the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Institute]] and the [[National Cancer Institute]] .

He entered the University of California at Davis at the age of 15. A year later, he transferred to the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his B.S. in [[Entomology]] in 1923. Four years later he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry.  Burk joined the Department of Agriculture in 1929 working in the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory.

In 1939, he joined the cancer institute as a senior chemist. He was head of the cytochemistry laboratory when he retired in 1974. He also taught biochemistry at the [[Cornell University]] medical school from 1939 to 1941. From  he was a research master at George Washington University.  Burk was a close friend and co-author of papers with [[Otto Heinrich Warburg]].<ref name="Weiterentwicklung">Weiterentwicklung der zellphysiologischen Methoden: angewandt auf Krebs, Photosynthese und Wirkungsweise der Röntgenstrahlung: Arbeiten aus den Jahren 1945-1961, (Thieme, Stuttgart 1962) (Trans: Further Developments of Methods in Cellular Physiology applied to Cancer, Photosynthesis and the Effects of X-ray Radiation) Texts in German and English. </ref> 

For his work on photosynthesis, Burk received the Hillebrand Prize in 1952  and the Gerhard Domagk Prize in 1965 for his techniques to distinguish between a normal cell and one damaged by cancer. He was a co-developer of the prototype of the [[MRI| Magnetic Resonance Scanner]] and a co-discoverer of biotin.

After retiring form the NCI in 1974 he devoted himself to the study and discussion of [[Water_fluoridation|fluoridation]] and alternative cancer treatments.  A friend of Dean Burk has written that Dean Burk was responsible for convincing the government of the Netherlands to cease adding [[Water_fluoridation|fluoride]] to its drinking water. <ref name="Dean Burk">[http://www.cancerdecisions.com/031404_page.html Ralph Moss: In Memory of Dean Burk]. [http://www.cancerdecisions.com/031404_page.html] website, accessed 24 January, 2007.</ref> 

[[Image:Dr. Mark Woods and M. Dean Burk.jpg | frame |right| Dr. Mark Woods and M, Dean Burk 
 Photo by Edward A. Hubbard - National Library of Medicine USA ]]


He published more than 250 scientific articles in his lifetime. 

==Publications==

*D Burk, H Lineweaver (1930) "<i>The Influence of Fixed Nitrogen on Azobacter,</i>" Journal of Bacteriology, Apr;27(4):325-40.

* I Weisman, L. Bennett, L. Maxwell Sr., M. Woods, and D. Burk (1972)"<i>Recognition of Cancer in vivo by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance</i>", <b>Science</b> 178, 1288 - 1290<br>

* J Yiamouyiannis, D Burk [http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=dean+burk+fluoride&hl=en&lr=&btnG=Search  "<i>Fluoridation and cancer, age-dependence of cancer mortality related to artificial fluoridation</i>]" Fluoride 1977

* Burk D, Schade AL. <i>On respiratory impairment in cancer cells</i>. <b>Science</b>. 1956 Aug 10;124(3215):270-2. 

==References==
<div class="references-small">{{reflist|2}}</div>

==Further Reading==
* [http://www.fluoridation.com/tributes.htm www.fluoridation.com] - In memoriam -- Dean Burk (1904-1988) 

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