Karen Steel facts for kids
Karen Penelope Steel is a British scientist. She studies the genetics of deafness. This means she looks at how our genes affect hearing loss.
Professor Steel uses mice to understand deafness. By studying mice, she can find the genes involved. She also learns how these genes affect the body's cells and systems. She works at King's College London. Before that, she led research at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
She helped discover Myo7a. This was the first gene linked to deafness in both mice and humans. More recently, she led the discovery of Mir-96 microRNA. This gene is connected to hearing loss that gets worse over time.
In 2012, Professor Steel won the Royal Society Brain Prize. She shared it with Professor Christine Petit. They won for their important work on the genetics of hearing and deafness.
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Early Life and Inspiration
When she was young, Karen Steel was interested in English. But in sixth grade, something changed her path. She heard Dorothy Hodgkin speak at Bristol University. Dorothy Hodgkin talked about insulin. This was the first time Karen saw a woman scientist. This experience made her want to study genetics.
Education Journey
Karen Steel first studied at Leeds University. Then, she earned her PhD from University College London. Her PhD research looked at the inner ear of deaf mice.
After her studies, she helped start a research program. This program focused on mouse genetics and deafness. It was at the new MRC Institute of Hearing Research. She also did more research in Munich. Later, she returned to Nottingham to lead mouse genetics studies.
Understanding Deafness Through Research
Professor Steel's research focuses on the genes behind deafness. She mainly uses mice to find these genes. Her goal is to understand how deafness affects the body at a tiny level. This includes molecules, cells, and how the body works.
She developed a special way to screen mice. This method helps find mice with hearing and balance problems. It allowed her to find specific genes causing these issues. These problems often happen because of changes in hair cells or ear parts.
Her mouse genetics project also involves studying genes that are not well known. She removes certain genes to see if they are needed for hearing. Her team has described how over 80 different mouse genes affect hearing.
Currently, her research looks at hearing loss that gets worse over time. She uses mouse models to map out how hearing loss progresses in humans. She also searches for specific genes that cause hearing loss. This helps her find genes that could be targets for new treatments. By 2014, her team had found genes linked to progressive hearing loss. They are now working to understand the pathways these genes are part of.
Awards and Recognitions
Professor Steel has received many awards for her work:
- Recipient of the Kresge-Mirmelstein prize for excellence in hearing research, New Orleans, 1998
- Elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, London, 2004
- Elected Council member of Association for Research in Otolaryngology (2004-2008)
- Elected President of International Mammalian Genome Society (2007-2012)
- Edith Whetnall lecturer, Section of Otology of the Royal Society of Medicine, London, 2008
- Elected Fellow of the Royal Society, London, 2009
- Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Prize, 2012
- Award of Merit, Association for Research in Otolaryngology, presented in Baltimore, Feb 2013
The asteroid 24734 Kareness was named after Steel. Her brother, who discovered the asteroid, named it for her.
See also
In Spanish: Karen Steel para niños
