Anita Roberts facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anita B. Roberts
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| Born | April 3, 1942 |
| Died | May 26, 2006 (aged 64) |
| Nationality | American |
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| Known for | TGF-β |
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Anita Bauer Roberts (born April 3, 1942 – died May 26, 2006) was an American scientist. She studied tiny parts of living things, a field called molecular biology. She made important discoveries about a protein known as TGF-β. This protein is super important for healing cuts and broken bones. It also has a complex role in how cancer grows.
Many other scientists used her work in their own research. She was one of the top 50 most referenced biology scientists in the world.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Anita Roberts was born on April 3, 1942, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Pittsburgh. In 1964, she earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry from Oberlin College.
She then went on to get her PhD in biochemistry in 1968. She studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. After that, she worked at Harvard University and Indiana University Bloomington.
A Career in Cancer Research
In 1976, Anita Roberts joined the National Cancer Institute. This is a big research center in Bethesda, Maryland. It is part of the National Institutes of Health.
From 1995 to 2004, she led a special lab there. It was called the Laboratory of Cell Regulation and Carcinogenesis. She continued her important research until she passed away in 2006.
Discovering TGF-β
In the early 1980s, Roberts and her team started studying a protein. They called it transforming growth factor beta, or TGF-β for short.
Roberts was able to get this protein from cow kidney tissue. She then compared it to TGF-β found in human blood and other tissues. Her team did many experiments to learn more about this protein.
They found that TGF-β plays a key role in healing. It helps tell other growth factors in the body to fix wounds and broken bones quickly.
TGF-β and Cancer
Scientists later found that TGF-β does even more. It helps control your heartbeat and how your eyes react to getting older.
In her ongoing research, Roberts and others made another big discovery. They found that TGF-β can stop some cancers from growing. But it can also make advanced cancers grow faster. This includes cancers of the breast and lung.
Anita Roberts was once the president of the Wound Healing Society. In 2005, she became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Roberts herself was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2004. She became well-known in the cancer community for her blog. In her blog, she wrote about her daily experiences living with the disease.
Awards and Honors
Anita Roberts received many awards for her important work in science. These include:
- The Leopold Griffuel Prize (2005)
- The FASEB Excellence in Science Award (2005)
- The Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction (2005)
There is also a series of lectures named after her. In 2005, she was the 49th most-cited scientist in the world. She was also the third most-cited woman scientist.
See also
In Spanish: Anita Roberts para niños
