Bruce A. Beutler

Fascinated with nature even as a child, Bruce Beutler decided at the age of seven that he would be a biologist. He graduated from the University of California at San Diego at age 18, and earned his MD at the University of Chicago. In a series of discoveries beginning in the mid-1980s, Beutler isolated tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in mice, and discovered its inflammatory properties; developed recombinant inhibitors for TNF, which are now used widely as a treatment for inflammatory diseases; and discovered the receptor for lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which helps explain how inflammatory diseases begin and how mammals sense infection. For his work with lipopolysaccharide receptors, Beutler won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Bruce Beutler is Director, Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at UT Southwestern and leader of the Beutler Lab.