Beth Levine

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Beth Cindy Levine (born April 7, 1960 in Newark , New Jersey - † June 15, 2020 ) was an American oncologist and professor of internal medicine and microbiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas . Two studies published under her leadership in 1998 and 1999 are considered to be the key to understanding the relationship between autophagy and the development of cancer and infectious diseases .

Career

Beth Levine first studied French literature and language at Brown University in Rhode Island , where she received her first degree in 1981. She then changed subjects and passed the 1986 Doctor of Medicine (MD) exam at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City . She then worked as an assistant doctor for internal medicine and infectious diseases at Mount Sinai Hospital until 1989 . After completing her doctorate , she was accepted as a postdoc in Diane E. Griffin's group at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore , where she continued to work on the development of infectious diseases and, in particular, the effects of viruses on nerve cells.

In 1992 Levine moved to Columbia University in New York City as a professor , where she headed virus research from 1994 to 2004. In 2004, she went as head of the department of infectious diseases to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas , from 2011 she was on the same site director of the Center for Autophagy Research and holder of the Chair Charles Cameron Sprague Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science . From 2008 she also conducted research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase (Maryland) .

Her specialty was research into autophagy, the process in cells by which they break down and utilize their own components. For example, autophagy helps eliminate viruses, bacteria, and foreign proteins that have entered the cell. In an obituary by the American Society for Microbiology in 2020, it was said that the most important result of the research carried out by their group in the late 1990s was the discovery of the mammalian gene Beclin 1 (BECN1), the gene product of which is “the most studied autophagy protein in mammals "Because it plays an important role" in the suppression of tumors, the lifespan [of mammals] and in the defense against microbes by their hosts ". Levine discovered this gene by chance when she was experimenting with the yeast two-hybrid system , a technique used to elucidate protein-protein interactions , and was surprised to find that the apoptosis- inhibiting protein Bcl-2 was attached to a then bound an unknown protein which she named Beclin 1 . Her working group then succeeded in demonstrating that Beclin 1 is active, among other things, as a tumor suppressor gene in breast cancer cells.

Beth Levine died in the early summer of 2020 as a result of her illness (breast cancer). Her survivors include her husband, Milton Packer (professor of cardiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center ), and the couple's two children.

Honors

Levine was a member of the American Society for Microbiology , the American Society for Virology , the American Society for Clinical Investigation (since 2000), the Association of American Physicians (since 2006) and, since 2013, the National Academy of Sciences .

In 2014 she received the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award for outstanding scientific achievements in connection with special mentoring for young scientists.

Fonts (selection)

  • Xiao Huan Liang, Linda K. Kleeman, Hui Hui Jiang, Gerald Gordon, James E. Goldman, Gail Berry, Brian Herman and Beth Levine: Protection against Fatal Sindbis Virus Encephalitis by Beclin, a Novel Bcl-2-Interacting Protein. In: Journal of Virology. Volume 72, No. 11, 1998, pp. 8586-8596, doi: 10.1128 / JVI.72.11.8586-8596.1998 .
  • Xiao Huan Liang, Saadiya Jackson, Matthew Seaman, Kristy Brown, Bettina Kempkes, Hanina Hibshoosh and Beth Levine: Induction of autophagy and inhibition of tumorigenesis by beclin 1. In: Nature . Volume 402, 1999, pp. 672-676, doi: 10.1038 / 45257 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Herbert W. Virgin, Ana Maria Cuervo and Ramnik J. Xavier: Beth Cindy Levine (1960–2020). In: Science . Volume 369, No. 6502, 2020, p. 378, doi: 10.1126 / science.abd6216 .
  2. ↑ a b In Memoriam: Levine, Beth. Obituary on the server of the American Society for Microbiology , last accessed on July 24, 2020.
  3. ↑ HHMI Investigator / NAS member Dr. Beth Levine: Director of UT Southwestern Center for Autophagy Research: 1960-2020. Obituary on the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center server .
  4. ↑ The 2014 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award: Beth Levine, MD. On the American Society for Clinical Investigation website , Feb. 1, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Levine, Beth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Levine, Beth Cindy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American internal medicine doctor and cancer researcher
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark, New Jersey , United States
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 2020