Beth Levine in memoriam

KLIONSKY D ET AL; VACCARO, MARIA INES

AUTOPHAGY

LANDES BIOSCIENCE

Año: 2020 vol. 16 p. 1559 - 1583

1554-8627

Zhenyi An, Andrea Ballabio, Lynda Bennett, Patricia Boya,Francesco Cecconi, Wei-Chung Chiang, Patrice Codogno, MariaIsabel Colombo, Ana Maria Cuervo, Jayanta Debnath, VojoDeretic, Ivan Dikic, Keith Dionne, Xiaonan Dong, ZvulunElazar, Lorenzo Galluzzi, Frank Gentile, Diane E. Griffin, MaleneHansen, J. Marie Hardwick, Congcong He, Shu-Yi Huang, JamesHurley, William T. Jackson, Cindy Jozefiak, Richard N. Kitsis,Daniel J. Klionsky, Guido Kroemer, Alfred J. Meijer, AliciaMeléndez, Gerry Melino, Noboru Mizushima, Leon O. Murphy,Ralph Nixon, Anthony Orvedahl, Sophie Pattingre, MauroPiacentini, Fulvio Reggiori, Theodora Ross, David C.Rubinsztein, Kevin Ryan, Junichi Sadoshima, Stuart L. Schreiber,Frederick Scott, Salwa Sebti, Michael Shiloh, Sanae Shoji, AnneSimonsen, Haley Smith, Kathryn M. Sumpter, Craig B.Thompson, Andrew Thorburn, Michael Thumm, Sharon Tooze,Maria I. Vaccaro, Herbert W. Virgin, Fei Wang, Eileen White,Ramnik J. Xavier, Tamotsu Yoshimori, Junying Yuan, ZhenyuYue, Qing Zhong.Beth Levine was born on 7 April 1960 in Newark, NewJersey. She went to college at Brown University where she receivedan A.B. Magna Cum Laude, and she attended medical school atCornell University Medical College, receiving her MD in 1986. Shecompleted her internship and residency in Internal Medicine atMount Sinai Hospital in New York, and her fellowship inInfectious Diseases at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Most recently,Beth was a Professor of Internal Medicine and Microbiology,Director of the Center for Autophagy Research, and holder ofthe Charles Sprague Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science atthe University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.Beth died on 15 June 2020 from cancer. Beth is survived by herhusband, Milton Packer, and their two children, Rachel (26 yearsold) and Ben (25 years old).Dr. Levine was as an international leader in the field ofautophagy research. Her laboratory identified the mammalianautophagy gene BECN1/beclin 1; identified conserved mechanismsunderlying the regulation of autophagy (e.g. BCL2-BECN1 com-plex formation, insulin-like signaling, EGFR, ERBB2/HER2 andAKT1-mediated BECN1 phosphosphorylation); and provided thefirst evidence that autophagy genes are important in antiviral hostdefense, tumor suppression, lifespan extension, apoptotic corpseclearance, metazoan development, Na,K-ATPase-regulated celldeath, and the beneficial metabolic effects of exercise. She devel-oped a potent autophagy-inducing cell permeable peptide, Tat-beclin 1, which has potential therapeutic applications in a range ofdiseases. She was a founding Associate Editor of the journalAutophagy and an editorial board member of Cell and Cell Host& Microbe. She has received numerous awards/honors in recogni-tion of her scientific achievement, including: The AmericanCancer Society Junior Faculty Research Award (1994); electioninto the American Society of Clinical Investigation (2000); theEllison Medical Foundation Senior Scholars Award in GlobalInfectious Diseases (2004); elected member, AmericanAssociation of Physicians (2005); appointment as a HowardHughes Medical Institute Investigator (2008); Edith and PeterO?Donnell Award in Medicine (2008); elected fellow, AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science (2012); election intothe National Academy of Sciences (2013); election into theAcademy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (2013);the ASCI Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award (2014); Phyllis T. BodelWomen in Medicine Award, Yale University School of Medicine(2018); recipient, Barcroft Medal, Queen?s University Belfast(2018).