astronomy

Margit Burmeister

Margit Burmeister is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Margit Burmeister rather than just read about it. In short: Margit Burmeister is an associate Chair and professor of computational medicine and Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan Medical School. Burmeister's work has focused primarily on the genetics of a neurological disorder, ataxia, and on the genetic and biological basis of psychiatric disorders and related personality traits, using large-scale genomics, rigorous statistical methods, and integrative approaches…

Key takeaways

Margit Burmeister belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Margit Burmeister to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Margit Burmeister from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Margit Burmeister is an associate Chair and professor of computational medicine and Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan Medical School. Burmeister's work has focused primarily on the genetics of a neurological disorder, ataxia, and on the genetic and biological basis of psychiatric disorders and related personality traits, using large-scale genomics, rigorous statistical methods, and integrative approaches spanning molecular neuroscience, animal models, and human behavior. She is a recipient of the 1995 Klingenstein Fellowship Award as well as the recipient of the 1999 Humboldt Research Fellowship.

Education Burmeister completed her undergraduate studies at the Free University of Berlin in 1983. In 1987, she completed a graduate program at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and received her graduate degree from Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg.

Career Burmeister began her academic career in 1991 as an assistant research scientist and assistant professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 1997, she was appointed senior associate researcher and associate professor of Psychiatry and Human Genetics. Since 2005, she has worked as a research professor at the Michigan Neuroscience Institute and as a professor of Psychiatry and Human Genetics at the University of Michigan. Additionally, since 2008, she has directed the Bioinformatics graduate program and, since 2010, has been working as an associate chair, both in the Gilbert Omenn Department of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics. Burmeister also holds professional appointments outside academia. Since 2022, she has been on the scientific advisory board of Nucleus Genomics, and since 2025, she has been a founding member, angel investor, and genetics expert at Forum The Phoenix.

Research Burmeister's research has explored genetic factors that contribute to psychiatric disorders and has focused on understanding how these genetic influences interact with environmental factors. She has used a range of genomic methods, including linkage analysis, next-generation sequencing, and computational bioinformatics, and has contributed towards discovering genes involved in conditions such as ataxia, seizures, addiction, and mood disorders. A significant focus of Burmeister's research has been on how genetic variation modulates individual responses to environmental stressors, particularly in the context of depression and addiction. She has contributed to studies on gene-environment interactions, exploring how specific genetic variants influence the risk of developing mental health conditions when coupled with stressful life experiences. Her work has highlighted that genetic predispositions do not act in isolation but may alter susceptibility to psychiatric outcomes in interaction with environmental contexts. In addition to behavioral and psychiatric genetics, Burmeister's work has also focused on complex disease genetics and neurogenetics. Her work has emphasized the importance of integrating genetic data with environmental and developmental factors to better understand and potentially mitigate the risk for complex brain disorders. Burmeister has also researched on the genetic basis of hereditary ataxias, focusing on the identification of disease-causing genes and mutations. Using human genetic and genomic approaches, her work on ataxia has contributed to the classification of ataxia subtypes and the diagnostic evaluation of affected families.

Awards and honors 1995 – Klingenstein Fellowship Award 1999 – Humboldt Research Fellowship Programme 2018 – Alexander von Humboldt Award

Selected articles Cox, D. R., Burmeister, M., Price, E. R., Kim, S., & Myers, R. M. (1990). Radiation hybrid mapping: a somatic cell genetic method for constructing high-resolution maps of mammalian chromosomes. Science, 250(4978), 245-250. Bomar, J. M., Benke, P. J., Slattery, E. L., Puttagunta, R., Taylor, L. P., Seong, E., ... & Burmeister, M. (2003). Mutations in a novel gene encoding a CRAL-TRIO domain cause human Cayman ataxia and ataxia/dystonia in the jittery mouse. Nature genetics, 35(3), 264-269. Sen, S., Burmeister, M., & Ghosh, D. (2004). Meta‐analysis of the association between a serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5‐HTTLPR) and anxiety‐related personality traits. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 127(1), 85-89. Karg, K., Burmeister, M., Shedden, K., & Sen, S. (2011). The serotonin transporter promoter variant (5-HTTLPR), stress, and depression meta-analysis revisited: evidence of genetic moderation. Archives of general psychiatry, 68(5), 444-454. Seong, E., Insolera, R., Dulovic, M., Kamsteeg, E. J., Trinh, J., Brüggemann, N., ... & Burmeister, M. (2018). Mutations in VPS13D lead to a new recessive ataxia with spasticity and mitochondrial defects. Annals of neurology, 83(6), 1075-1088.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Margit Burmeister

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Margit Burmeister claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Margit Burmeister before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Margit Burmeister ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Margit Burmeister

In research: Margit Burmeister appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Margit Burmeister in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Margit Burmeister is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American academics, American scientists, Free University of Berlin alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Margit Burmeister outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Margit Burmeister in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Margit Burmeister means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Margit Burmeister out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Margit Burmeister in simple terms?

Why does Margit Burmeister matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Margit Burmeister?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Margit Burmeister.