Bruce Beutler facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bruce Beutler
|
|
|---|---|
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 2021
Photograph by Brian Coats |
|
| Born | December 29, 1957 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago, University of California, San Diego |
| Spouse(s) | Barbara Lanzl (c. 1980-1988; divorced; 3 children) |
| Awards | 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Immunology |
| Institutions | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Trinity College Dublin |
Bruce Alan Beutler (born December 29, 1957) is an American scientist. He is an expert in immunology, which is the study of the body's defense system, and genetics, the study of genes. In 2011, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He shared half of the prize with Jules A. Hoffmann. They were honored for their "discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity."
Bruce Beutler found a key part of our immune system called the receptor for lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS is a molecule found in bacteria that can make us sick. He discovered this by studying mice that didn't react to LPS. He found a change in their gene for a protein called Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). This showed that TLR4 is crucial for our body to sense and fight off infections. Later, other TLRs were found to detect different parts of germs, starting our body's first line of defense.
The other half of the Nobel Prize went to Ralph M. Steinman. He was recognized for finding dendritic cells and their role in how our body learns to fight specific germs.
Today, Bruce Beutler works at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. He is a professor and leads a center that studies how our genes help us fight off diseases.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Bruce Beutler was born in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in Southern California, mostly in Arcadia. During his childhood, he loved exploring nature, especially hiking in mountains and national parks. This sparked his strong interest in biology.
When he was 14, he started working in his father's lab. His father, Ernest Beutler, was also a famous scientist. In the lab, Bruce learned how to study proteins and enzymes in blood cells. By age 17, he had already published his own scientific papers!
He also worked with other scientists, learning about genetics and how the immune system works. He studied fruit flies to understand how traits are passed down. He also learned about LPS, the bacterial molecule he would later become famous for studying.
Bruce was a very smart student. He finished high school at 16 and college at 18. He then went to medical school at the University of Chicago, earning his M.D. degree at 23. After some medical training, he realized he loved laboratory research more than working as a doctor. So, he decided to focus on science.
Important Discoveries
Finding TNF and Its Role in Inflammation
Bruce Beutler's work on the body's natural defense system began in the 1980s. He was working in a lab at Rockefeller University. He found a protein from mouse cells that he called "cachectin." This protein was thought to cause weight loss in sick people.
He discovered that this "cachectin" was actually the same as another protein called tumor necrosis factor (TNF). TNF was known for killing cancer cells. But Beutler showed it had another very important job: it caused inflammation.
He proved that TNF was a key player in a serious condition called septic shock, which can happen when the body has a severe infection. He did this by using an antibody to block TNF in mice. This greatly reduced the dangerous inflammation caused by bacteria. This discovery was huge because it showed that TNF could cause many inflammatory diseases. It also hinted that blocking TNF could be a way to treat conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
Creating Medicines to Block TNF
In 1986, Beutler moved to the UT Southwestern Medical Center. He realized that blocking TNF could help patients. So, he and his team created new molecules designed to stop TNF from working in the body.
They made special proteins by combining parts of TNF receptors with parts of immune system molecules. These new molecules were very good at finding and neutralizing TNF. One of these, called Etanercept, became a very successful medicine. It is used to treat diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and psoriasis. This medicine has helped many people and has been very successful.
Discovering the LPS Receptor and TLRs
Since the mid-1980s, Beutler was very interested in how bacterial molecules like LPS activate our immune cells. He wanted to find the specific "receptor" on cells that recognized LPS. Scientists had been looking for this receptor for a long time. Finding it would help understand how our body first senses invading microbes.
Starting in 1993, Beutler and his team worked for five years to find this gene. They studied thousands of mice and narrowed down the location of the gene. They found that two different strains of mice that couldn't sense LPS had problems with a gene called Tlr4. This gene makes the protein Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4).
Beutler's team proved that TLR4 is the main part of the cell's LPS receptor. This means TLR4 is how our cells "see" LPS from bacteria. They also showed that other similar proteins, called Toll-like receptors (TLRs), likely act as sensors for other parts of microbes. Today, we know there are ten different TLRs in humans. Each one helps our body detect different signs of infection and start an immune response. This discovery was a major breakthrough in understanding how our innate immune system works.
Studying Genes and Immunity in Mice
After finding the LPS receptor, Beutler continued to study how genes affect immunity. He used a method where he created small changes (mutations) in mouse genes. Then, he looked for mice with unusual immune responses. This helped him find many important molecules needed for our immune system to work.
For example, he found a gene called Ticam1. When this gene was changed, it affected how TLRs 3 and 4 signaled. The protein made by this gene, called TRIF, helps these TLRs send messages inside the cell.
He also found a gene called Unc93b1. Mice with changes in this gene had problems with TLRs 3, 7, and 9. These TLRs are found inside cell compartments called endosomes. The UNC93B1 protein helps move these TLRs to the right place. Later, it was found that people with changes in the human version of this gene can get serious infections, like repeated Herpes simplex virus brain infections.
Beutler's lab found many genes that are important for how our immune system responds to infections. They also studied how genes affect our body's response to specific viruses, like mouse cytomegalovirus. This work helped scientists understand which genes are critical for survival during an infection.
His team also used these methods to study other body processes. They found genes important for things like how our body absorbs iron, how we hear, our metabolism, and even how we develop as embryos. Many human diseases have now been linked to changes in the same genes first found in mice by Beutler's lab.
New Ways to Map Genes
Before 2013, finding which specific gene change caused a certain trait in mice was a very slow process. It involved a lot of breeding and testing. Bruce Beutler invented a new method called Automated Meiotic Mapping (AMM). This method makes it much faster to find the gene changes that cause specific traits.
AMM uses special computer programs to quickly identify which gene mutation is responsible for a change in a mouse's body. This has sped up gene discovery by about 200 times! It allows scientists to find not just big, obvious changes, but also small, subtle ones. This has greatly improved how scientists study how genes affect health and disease.
Using AMM, Beutler's lab has found thousands of gene changes linked to different traits. These include new immune problems, bone disorders, vision problems, and metabolism issues. AMM has even helped find a gene linked to autism in both mice and humans. This new method helps scientists understand complex diseases where many genes play a role.
Developing Drugs That Activate TLRs
Bruce Beutler has also worked with other scientists to create new medicines that can activate TLRs. These medicines are small molecules that can "turn on" our immune system. They can be used with vaccines to help our body fight off diseases better.
For example, they found molecules called Neoseptins that activate TLR4, just like LPS does, but in a controlled way. They also found Diprovocims, which activate TLR1 and TLR2. These discoveries showed that TLRs can be activated by molecules other than just those from microbes. This opens up new ways to design medicines that can boost our immune response.
Awards and Recognition
Bruce Beutler has received many awards for his important scientific work.
Awards
- 1993 - Alexander von Humboldt Fellow; Germany
- 2004 - Robert Koch Prize; Germany (shared)
- 2006 - William B. Coley Award; United States (shared)
- 2006 - Grand Prix Charles-Léopold Mayer; France
- 2007 - Balzan Prize; Italy and Switzerland (shared)
- 2009 - Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research; United States (shared)
- 2011 - Shaw Prize; China (shared)
- 2011 - Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; Sweden (shared)
- 2012 - Drexel Medicine Prize in Immunology; United States
- 2013 - Rabbi Shai Shacknai Memorial Prize in Immunology and Cancer Research; Israel
- 2016 - UCSD Distinguished Alumnus Award; United States
Honorary Degrees
He has also received many honorary doctoral degrees from universities around the world, recognizing his contributions to science.
- 2007 - Doctor Med. Honoris Causa, Technical University of Munich; Germany
- 2009 - Honorary Doctoral Degree, Xiamen University; China
- 2012 - Honorary Professor, Trinity College; Ireland
- 2013 - Honorary Professor, Peking University; China
- 2015 - Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Chile; Chile
- 2015 - Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Marseille; France
- 2015 - Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Brasilia; Brazil
- 2015 - Doctor Honoris Causa, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU); Norway
- 2017 - Doctor Med. Honoris Causa, University of Ottawa; Canada
- 2019 - Honorary Degree, Jewish Theological Seminary; United States
Family Life
Bruce Beutler is the third son of Ernest Beutler and Brondelle May Beutler. His father, Ernest Beutler, was also a very famous scientist who studied blood diseases and genetics. They even worked together on some projects.
Bruce Beutler's grandparents were also doctors. His paternal grandmother, Kathe Beutler, was a pediatrician (a doctor for children).
Bruce Beutler was married to Barbara Lanzl from 1980 to 1988. They have three sons.
Images for kids
-
Jules A. Hoffmann, Göran K. Hansson (chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine) and Beutler
-
Jules A. Hoffmann (background) and Beutler
-
Bruce Beutler at the Nobel Prize press conference at Karolinska, Solna
See also
In Spanish: Bruce Beutler para niños
- List of Jewish Nobel laureates
