Bruce Beutler

Bruce Alan Beutler ( born December 29, 1957 in Chicago ) is an American immunologist and geneticist, the key research in the field of immunology, particularly the Toll-like receptors has done and in 2011 was awarded on the basis of his achievements with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Life

Beutler was born in 1957 in Chicago, the son of German immigrants Ernest Beutler. Initially, the family then lived in California. By 1976, Bruce Beutler studied biology at the University of California, San Diego, it joined a medical degree at the University of Chicago. In 1981, he received his M.D. From 1985 to 1986, Beutler Assistant Professor at Rockefeller University. Subsequently, he held various positions at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute until 2000. From 2000 to 2007, Beutler professor at the Department of Immunology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Since 2007 he heads the Department of Genetics at the Scripps Research Institute. Since September 2011, Beutler is also director of the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

He is the father of three sons.

Work

Since the early 1980s, Beutler first investigated on the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and the immune response to bacterial endotoxin ( LPS to ) include, where it finally the long-sought - endotoxin identified receptor (TLR 4) to Toll heard -like receptors of the innate immune system. In 1985, he discovered a messenger of macrophages, which is a reaction to inflammation and whom he called cachectin. Shortly thereafter, he identified this with the then newly discovered TNF. He recognized the opportunity to proceed with antibodies against TNF against endotoxin -induced septic shock in bacterial infections. His discovery of the role of TNF in inflammation is also the basis of appropriate drug developments in various autoimmune diseases.

In 2011 he was awarded, together with Jules Hoffmann and Ralph M. Steinman, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. They paid tribute to Beutler and Hoffmann's discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity.

Awards (selection)

Publications (selection)

• A. Poltorak, X. He, I. Smirnova, MY Liu, C. Van Huffel, X. Du, D. Birdwell, E. Alejos, M. Silva, C. Galanos, M. Freudenberg, P. Ricciardi - Castagnoli, B. Layton, B. Beutler: Defective LPS signaling in C3H/HeJ and C57BL/10ScCr mice: mutations in Tlr4 gene. In: Science. Volume 282, Number 5396, December 1998, pp. 2085-2088, ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 9,851,930th
• B. Beutler, Z. Jiang, P. Georgel, K. Crozat, B. Croker, S. slip man, X. Du, K. Hoebe: Genetic analysis of host resistance: Toll-like receptor signaling and immunity at large. In: Annual review of immunology. Volume 24, 2006, pp. 353-389, ISSN 0732-0582. doi: 10.1146/annurev.immunol.24.021605.090552. PMID 16,551,253th (Review).