Marianne Sandvold Beckwith

Marianne Sandvold Beckwith holds a Master of Science from NTNU and completed her PhD at the Centre for Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), NTNU. She is currently a Senior Researcher in the Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine at NTNU. Her work focuses on advanced microscopy techniques to study host-pathogen interactions, particularly Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and HIV-1 immune responses. She has pioneered correlative light-electron microscopy (CLEM) methods for 3D imaging of cellular processes.

Research Interests: Beckwith specializes in integrating microscopy innovations with immunological research to understand mechanisms of pathogen-induced cell death and immune activation. Her work spans molecular biology, biophysics, and clinical applications of imaging technologies. She has contributed to discoveries about how tuberculosis bacteria manipulate host cell membranes and trigger inflammatory responses.

Key Contributions: Her 2020 studies revealed how plasma membrane damage activates inflammasomes during tuberculosis infection, and demonstrated TLR8's role in sensing HIV-1 to reverse latency. She has also developed imaging protocols for studying immune cell migration dynamics at EMBL.

Outreach & Collaboration: Active collaborator with institutions like EMBL and international conferences (Gordon Research Conferences, IUIS Congress). Engaged in science communication through exhibitions (The Big Challenge art installation) and public lectures explaining infection biology through microscopy visuals.