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| Name |
Beckerle, Mary C. |
| Location
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Huntsman Cancer Institute |
| Primary Field
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Cellular and Developmental Biology |
| Secondary Field
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Biochemistry |
 Election Citation
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Mary C. Beckerle focuses on the discovery and characterization of pathways that control how cells sense and respond to signals generated at sites of cell adhesion.
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Research Interests
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Mary Beckerle has focused her scientific career on the discovery and characterization of pathways that control how cells sense and respond to signals generated at sites of cell adhesion. She discovered zyxin, a cytoskeletal LIM protein, and showed that it regulates cell motility and shuttles between cell adhesion sites and the nucleus. Beckerle and her collaborators were the first to describe the structure and function of the LIM domain, a double zinc-finger motif found in hundreds of proteins. She advanced the paradigm that LIM proteins can have dual roles in cytoarchitecture and regulation of gene expression. In addition, Beckerle conducted pioneering work to define pathways by which cells respond to mechanical stress, including the discovery of a novel mechanism used by cells to recognize and reinforce sites of actin cytoskeletal strain. Her team employs diverse experimental models, ranging from individual cells to genetically accessible model systems. Bridging basic mechanistic findings to the field of cancer biology, Beckerle's group described a central role for a cytoskeletal maintenance pathway in the pathogenesis of Ewing sarcoma. This work contributed to the scientific rationale for development of a novel targeted therapy for Ewing sarcoma that has been tested in a first-in-human clinical trial.
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