Suzanne Eaton (December 23, 1959 – July 2, 2019) was an American scientist and professor of molecular biology at the

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics __NOTOC__ The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) is a biology research institute located in Dresden, Germany. It was founded in 1998 and was fully operational in 2001. Research groups in the institute work in m ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, Germany.

Early life and education

Eaton was born on December 23, 1959, in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. One of Eaton's self-confessed role models as a child was

Spock Spock is a fictional Character (arts), character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), USS ''Enterpri ...

, due to his rational approach to problem solving. She was also a talented pianist, having played since the age of eight. As an undergraduate, Eaton was torn between a career as a biologist, a comparative literature professor, or a mathematician. The deciding factor was a course that was taught from primary literature instead of a textbook, sparking an enthusiasm for biological research. Eaton completed a B.S. in biology at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1981 before earning a Ph.D. in microbiology at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

in 1988. Her thesis, entitled ''Molecular analysis of an immunoglobulin heavy chain promoter'', was completed under the supervision of Kathryn Calame. She was awarded the Sydney C. Rittenberg Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Microbiology by the Association of Academic Women in 1988 for her doctoral work.

Career and research

Eaton began her research career working on immunoglobulin heavy chain genes at University of California, Los Angeles, in the laboratory of Kathryn Calame. In 1988, Eaton switched fields to developmental biology, investigating how cells obtain their tissue identities in the fruit fly, ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (an insect of the Order (biology), order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly", "pomace fly" ...

'', while in the group of Thomas B. Kornberg at

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

.Eaton group webpage at TU Dresden
, accessed on July 9th 2019. Eaton moved to Germany in 1993 to work at the

European Molecular Biology Laboratory The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 29 member states, two prospect member states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

in the group of

Kai Simons Kai Simons is a Finnish professor of biochemistry and cell biology and physician, living and working in Germany. He introduced the concept of lipid rafts, and coined the term ''trans-Golgi network''. He is the co-founder and co-organizer of the ...

, where she combined her expertise in microbiology and developmental biology to investigate how the

cytoskeleton The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic network of interlinking protein filaments present in the cytoplasm of all cells, including those of bacteria and archaea. In eukaryotes, it extends from the cell nucleus to the cell membrane and is compos ...

helps cells attain their polarity in tissues, using the fruit fly as a model system. In 2000, Eaton became one of the founding members of the

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, where her group investigated how signaling molecules and mechanical properties of cells act together to shape tissues in the fruit fly. In 2015, she became a professor of developmental cell biology of invertebrates at the

TU Dresden TU Dresden (for , abbreviated as TUD), also as the Dresden University of Technology, is a public research university in Dresden, Germany. It is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony a ...

Awards and honors

* 1977:

New York State Regents In New York State, Regents Examinations are statewide standardized examinations in core high school subjects. Students were required to pass these exams to earn a Regents Diploma. To graduate, students are required to have earned appropriate cred ...

Scholar * 1988: Sydney C. Rittenberg Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Microbiology, Association of Academic Women * 2006: Women in Cell Biology Junior Award for Excellence in Research,

American Society for Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960.

Personal life

Eaton was married to the British scientist Anthony A. Hyman. The couple had two children. She was an athlete and runner, and had a black belt in

Taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

. After her death, her sister wrote: "She took great pleasure in preparing exquisite meals and had an exotic fashion sense. She loved perfume. She taught and practiced Tae Kwon Do as a second-degree black belt. She finished crossword puzzles way too quickly, played concertos, and read extensively. She fit Jane Austen’s strictest description of an 'accomplished woman' while maintaining a natural humility and 'insatiable curiosity'".

Disappearance and death

Eaton disappeared on July 2, 2019. She was last seen playing the piano in the hotel lobby where she was attending a conference at the Orthodox Academy in

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. It is believed that her disappearance occurred during a run. Greek police found her body on July 8 inside a World War II bunker. A homicide investigation was opened after it was determined that she died by

asphyxiation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are ...

. Giannis Paraskakis (also spelled Yiannis or Ioannis, ), a 27-year-old Greek man and married father of two, admitted during police questioning to striking her twice with his car, knocking her unconscious, and loading her into his trunk. He then drove to the remote bunker, where he raped her and left her to die. In October 2020, Paraskakis was convicted of Eaton's murder and given a life sentence.

Memorial fund

In honor of Eaton's interdisciplinary legacy to the scientific community, the

Institute of Molecular Biotechnology The Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) is an independent biomedical research organisation founded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The institute employs around 250 p ...

in Austria instated a memorial fund with the stated aim of supporting young scientists' endeavors in interdisciplinary topics. In March 2021, the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 2,100 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO) launched a New Venture Fellowship in memory of Suzanne Eaton meant to " upportyoung researchers from across the life sciences to enter a new field or bring a new direction to their work."

Selected publications

* Eaton, Suzanne (July 1995)
"Apical, basal, and lateral cues for epithelial polarization."
''Cell.'' 82: 5. * Eaton, Suzanne (December 1996)
"Roles for Rac1 and Cdc42 in planar polarization and hair outgrowth in the wing of Drosophila."
''Journal of Cell Biology.'' 135: 1277. * Eaton, Suzanne (May 2005)
"Lipoprotein particles are required for Hedgehog and Wingless signalling."
''Nature.'' 435: 58. * Eaton, Suzanne (September 2010)
"Cell Flow Reorients the Axis of Planar Polarity in the Wing Epithelium of ''Drosophila."''
''Cell.'' 142: 773.

References

External links

*
Suzanne Eaton Memorial Fund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Suzanne 1959 births 2010s missing person cases 2019 deaths 20th-century American biologists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American biologists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women scientists American expatriate academics American expatriates in Germany American female taekwondo practitioners American microbiologists American molecular biologists American people murdered abroad American women academics American women pianists Brown University alumni Female murder victims Formerly missing American people Deaths from asphyxiation Missing person cases in Greece Missing American people Scientists from California Academic staff of TU Dresden American women microbiologists American women molecular biologists Writers from Oakland, California University of California, Los Angeles alumni Violence against women in Greece 20th-century American sportswomen