Christine Beeton is an immunologist and associate professor at the

Baylor College of Medicine The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been se ...

(Baylor or Baylor College) in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas. She works within the Department of Molecular Physiology and

Biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

. Beeton graduated from the Faculté des Sciences de Luminy within the Université de la Mediterranée in

Marseille, France Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, ...

and later as a postdoctoral fellow from the University of California. Her professional interests and areas of expertise include

autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition that results from an anomalous response of the adaptive immune system, wherein it mistakenly targets and attacks healthy, functioning parts of the body as if they were foreign organisms. It is estimated tha ...

s (

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects synovial joint, joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and h ...

), drug development,

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

s and ion channels in disease, and targeted therapies.

Education and early life

Beeton graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Université de la Mediterranée in the 1990s before later graduating from the same university with a Master of Science in Biochemistry. In 1997, she joined Evelyne Béraud's group and received her PhD in Immunology. After graduating with her doctorate in 2001, Beeton moved to the US where she met and worked with K. George Chandy on her postdoctoral fellowship. After her fellowship ended in 2006, Beeton was awarded a promotion and assumed her new role as assistant researcher. She later joined the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine in 2008 and has worked there ever since. In 2010, Beeton became the Academic Director of

Cytometry Cytometry is the measurement of number and characteristics of cell (biology), cells. Variables that can be measured by cytometric methods include cell size, cell counting, cell count, cell morphology (shape and structure), cell cycle phase, DNA c ...

and Cell Sorting Core for the Dan L Duncan Cancer Centre. She was promoted to her current position, associate professor, in 2015.

Work and research

Beeton is a pioneer in her field, being the first person able to show the significant benefits of blocking Kv1.1 and Kv1.3 channels with kaliotoxin - a component of scorpion venom - as a preventative measure against multiple sclerosis in animals. Throughout her postdoctoral fellowship she collaborated with other doctors and developed an extremely potent and selective blocker of Kv1.3 channels. Beeton, alongside her fellow doctors, owns the world-wide patent on this blocker which is known as ShK-186, or dalazatide. Clinical trials have been carried out on volunteers and show that the blocker is well tolerated and displays efficacy. More recently Beeton has been focussing on the production and delivery of the blockers and other compounds which are related. Beeton's laboratory mainly looks at targeting potassium channels for the treatment of chronic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Recently, the lab identified KCa1.1 as the major potassium channel at the sugar of synoviocytes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and is now working to understand the mechanisms of KCa1.1 expression and function in synoviocytes. As well as this, Beeton and her colleagues are looking at developing selective KCa1.1 blockers as potential therapeutics for chronic diseases. Beeton has also started collaborating Dr. Tour at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

to understand the mechanisms of action of carbon-based antioxidant nanoparticles in T lymphocytes and their potential as novel immunomodulators for T lymphocyte-mediated autoimmune diseases.

Honours and awards

Clark Faculty service award

Beeton achieved the Clark Faculty Service Award in 2018. This award is to honour members of the Baylor College of Medicine faculty who have demonstrated that they are exceptional, altruistic, and community-driven. To receive the Clark Award a person must have been a staff member at Baylor for at least 5 years previous and nominees must not have already achieved a different major institutional award.

Laverna Titus Award

In 2005, Beeton received the Laverna Titus Award from the

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate Heart, cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability ...

for her research.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beeton, Christine American immunologists Baylor College of Medicine alumni Baylor College of Medicine faculty Baylor College of Medicine people Baylor College of Medicine physicians and researchers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people