Beutler, Bruce Alan, 1957–, American immunologist and geneticist, b. Chicago, Ill., M.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1981. Beutler has been a professor and physician at Rockefeller Univ. (1984–86), a faculty member at the Univ. of Texas Southwestern (1986–2000, 2011–), and a professor at Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif. (2000–2011). In 2011 he and Jules Hoffmann were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity; they shared the prized with Ralph Steinman, who was recognized for his discovery of dendritic cells. Beutler isolated a type of protein produced by dendritic cells called tumor necrosis factor, which plays a role in the body's response to inflammation. He also discovered proteins called Toll-like receptors, which are used by the immune system to recognize viruses and trigger the body's response to infection.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.