Janet S Butel is the Chairman and Distinguished Service Professor in the

molecular virology Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their ...

and

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

department at

Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a medical school and research center in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate Sc ...

. Her area of expertise is on

polyomavirus ''Polyomaviridae'' is a family of viruses whose natural hosts are primarily mammals and birds. As of 2020, there are six recognized genera and 117 species, five of which are unassigned to a genus. 14 species are known to infect humans, while othe ...

pathogenesis of infections and disease. She has more than 120 publications on

PubMed PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain the ...

. She also has 6 publications in ''Nature'', which is considered one of the most prestigious science journals. She is a member of 9 different organizations and has 13 honors and awards.

Education

Butel received her Bachelor of Science degree from

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

in June 1963. She then went on to get her Ph.D. in virology at

in June 1966. After she received her PhD she did a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in virology at

Research contributions

Butel has studied

SV40 SV40 is an abbreviation for simian vacuolating virus 40 or simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans. Like other polyomaviruses, SV40 is a DNA virus that has the potential to cause tumors in animals, but most often ...

infection in humans and animals for most of her career. She has published studies on the mechanism of

entry into human cells, the role of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

and

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

. In addition, Butel published an article in 2014 on the use of

microRNA MicroRNA (miRNA) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules containing 21 to 23 nucleotides. Found in plants, animals and some viruses, miRNAs are involved in RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. miRN ...

and

golden hamster The golden hamster or Syrian hamster (''Mesocricetus auratus'') is a rodent belonging to the hamster subfamily, Cricetinae. Their natural geographical range is in an arid region of northern Syria and southern Turkey. Their numbers have been d ...

s. The

is the animal model that

has been studied in and has provided evidence of its

pathogenesis Pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes from Greek πάθος ''pat ...

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

forming

. The animal model has been used to research the development of this virus in humans, but can not conclude any definitive

in humans. Thus there is controversy over the exact impact of

on human health. Butel's research indicates that

may play a role in some human

s, such as brain

tumors A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

and

non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredness. ...

. In the 1990s Dr. Butel discovered the role of

P53 p53, also known as Tumor protein P53, cellular tumor antigen p53 (UniProt name), or transformation-related protein 53 (TRP53) is a regulatory protein that is often mutated in human cancers. The p53 proteins (originally thought to be, and often s ...

in the

and

oncogenesis Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abnor ...

. By discovering the role of

she was able to support the research being conducted on

as a

tumor-suppressor gene A tumor suppressor gene (TSG), or anti-oncogene, is a gene that regulates a cell during cell division and replication. If the cell grows uncontrollably, it will result in cancer. When a tumor suppressor gene is mutated, it results in a loss or red ...

. This was perhaps the most important research of her career. Dr. Butel has also studied the role of the polio vaccine and in human

infection and integration of

into our DNA. It was found that some vaccines contained pieces of

genes. It is suspected that by incorporating

into the vaccine allowed it to enter into our own DNA. Butel has published studies on topics other than

. She has studied the

immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

of women going into

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in or ...

, specifically

cytokines Cytokines are a broad and loose category of small proteins (~5–25 kDa) important in cell signaling. Cytokines are peptides and cannot cross the lipid bilayer of cells to enter the cytoplasm. Cytokines have been shown to be involved in autocrin ...

and

antibodies An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...

. Butel also researched

hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the ''Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. Fo ...

and the role it plays in DNA repair. Dr. Butel has also contributed to higher education and is a coauthor of a medical microbiology textbook that has been used for over 50 years and in medical colleges around the world. Dr. Butel has over 120 publications with over 10,000 citations, according to

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

scholar.

Honors and awards

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

Fellow in 1988. *

Distinguished Service Professor Professors in the United States commonly occupy any of several positions of teaching and research within a college or university. In the U.S., the word "professor" informally refers collectively to the academic ranks of assistant professor, asso ...

at Baylor College of Medicine * In 1997 she was in the Texas A&M University Press as a Women Pioneer in Texas Medicine * Recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Award in 2002 * Kansas State University Alumni Fellow * Recipient of the American Association for Cancer Research-Women in Cancer Research-Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship * Kyle and Josephine Morrow Chair in Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine * BioHouston Women in Science Award * Honoree at the Hearts of Gold: Honoring Women in Health and Medical Science Gala * The Joseph L. Melnick Professor of Virology at Baylor College of Medicine

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butel, Janet S Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American virologists Baylor College of Medicine faculty Kansas State University alumni Baylor College of Medicine alumni Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science