Beth Levine
Discovered beclin 1, the first mammalian autophagy gene, and showed that autophagy matters for lifespan, tumor suppression and defense against viruses.
Deceased 2020 (1960–2020) · Professor of Internal Medicine and Microbiology, UT Southwestern (2004–2020) · HHMI Investigator (from 2008) · Columbia University (1994–2004)
Center for Autophagy Research, UT Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, Texas, USA) ↗
Portrait: UT Southwestern Medical Center
Beth Levine (1960-2020) was a physician-scientist who identified beclin 1, the first mammalian gene known to drive autophagy, the process cells use to recycle their own damaged parts. She worked at Columbia University and from 2004 at UT Southwestern in Dallas, where she directed the Center for Autophagy Research. She became a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator in 2008 and was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2013. She died in June 2020.
The 2003 Science paper in this Atlas, from her Columbia lab with Alicia Meléndez as first author, tested autophagy in the roundworm C. elegans. Worms with weak insulin-like signaling normally live much longer and can enter a resting 'dauer' stage. When the autophagy gene bec-1 was missing, both effects were lost.
This was early evidence that autophagy is required, not just present, when reduced insulin or TOR-type signaling extends lifespan.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | A | Autophagy genes are essential for dauer development and life-span extension in C. elegans MEL2003 Senior author of the C. elegans study showing that the autophagy gene bec-1 is needed for dauer development and for the lifespan extension caused by reduced insulin-like signaling. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 1
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Beth Levine.
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- Alicia Meléndez Developmental geneticist at Queens College, CUNY, who showed as a postdoc in Beth Levine's lab that autophagy genes are needed for the long life of insulin-signalling mutant worms. Her lab studies autophagy in C. elegans development, from germline stem cells to meiosis
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