Scientific Areas of Expertise: Actin Cytoskeletal Function and Dynamics; Cancer Cell Biology and Metastasis; Mechanical Stress Responses
For instrumental research aimed at defining novel molecular pathways responsible for regulating cellular migration, invasion, and metastasis, including her discovery of proteins that orchestrate actin-cytoskeleton and cell-substratum adhesion dynamics as well as others that signal from the cell surface to the nucleus to facilitate the invasion and metastatic spread of primary cancers, namely, Ewing sarcoma.
An internationally recognized cell biologist, Dr. Beckerle has conducted instrumental and pioneering research that has defined novel molecular pathways responsible for regulating cell migration, invasion, and metastasis, while unraveling the role of cell motility in carcinogenesis. Dr. Beckerle is credited with discovering proteins that orchestrate actin-cytoskeleton and cell-substratum adhesion dynamics as well as others that signal from the cell surface to the nucleus to facilitate the metastatic spread of primary cancers. An example is Zyxin, a cytoskeletal LIM protein, that regulates cell motility and shuttles between cell adhesion sites and the nucleus. She was the first to describe the structure and function of the LIM domain, a double zinc finger that mediates protein-protein interactions that is found in hundreds of proteins. Her lab advanced the paradigm that LIM proteins can exhibit dual functionality in cytoarchitecture and the regulation of gene expression.
Dr. Beckerle is also heralded for elucidating a novel mechanism by which cells recognize and respond to mechanical stress, a new frontier in signal transduction. Beckerle’s team showed that when cells are challenged by exposure to uniaxial cyclic stretch, areas of actin cytoskeletal strain are detected by LIM proteins and the actin stress fibers are reinforced. They defined the molecular mechanism responsible for the actin reinforcement pathway and examined the central role of cytoskeletal maintenance pathways in mediating Ewing Sarcoma adhesion and metastasis. Dr. Beckerle’s scientific contributions have expanded our fundamental understanding of cell adhesion, motility, and mechanotransduction, processes that are key to tumor biology.
Selected Awards and Honors
2021 Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC
2018 Alfred G. Knudson Award for Excellence in Cancer Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland
2018 Member, Advisory Committee on Science, Engineering, and Technology, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2018 Board of Scientific Advisors, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland
2017 Elected Member, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2016 Member, Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel, National Cancer Advisory Board, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland
2008 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2007 The Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence Award, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
2006 President, American Society of Cell Biology, Bethesda, Maryland
2004 Sword of Hope Award, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, Georgia
2001 Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology Award, Utah Science and Technology Research Initiative, Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Salt Lake City, Utah
2000 Rothschild-Yvette Mayent Scholar Award, Institut Curie, Paris, France
1999 Guggenheim Fellow in Molecular and Cellular Biology, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, New York