Jane S. Richardson

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Example of ribbon diagram, the protein ricin
Example of ribbon diagram, the protein ricin

Jane Shelby Richardson (born 1941 in Teaneck, New Jersey[1]) is an American biochemist who developed the Richardson diagram, or ribbon diagram, method of representing proteins. As of 2008, she is a professor in biochemistry at Duke University.[1]

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[edit] Biography

While attending high school in 1958, she won third place in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, the most prestigious science fair in the United States, with calculations of the satellite Sputnik's orbit from her own observations.[2] She continued her education in science at Swarthmore College, enrolling with the intention of studying mathematics, astronomy and physics. Her bachelors degree, though, was ultimately in philosophy with a minor in physics, and she pursued graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University, receiving her masters degree in 1966.[1] After finding herself unsuited to teaching high school, she joined her husband, David Richardson, then completing his PhD work at MIT, in studying the 3-dimensional structure of proteins. Her specialty was reading X-ray crystallography and she began drawing her eponymous diagrams as a method of interpreting the often baffling data produced by this technique. [3] Without having earned a Ph.D. or an M.D. she has been promoted to many prestigious positions in academia. In July of 1985 she was awarded a MacArthur "genius" award for her work in biochemistry[4]. She was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2006.[5] Richardson is currently a James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry at Duke University.[2] She and her husband maintain the Richardson Laboratory at Duke University.[3]

[edit] Scientific work

Richardson's first forays into science were in the field of astronomy. By observing the position of Sputnik, then the only artificial satellite, on two successive nights, she managed to calculate its predicted orbit. She submitted her results to the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, winning third place in 1958.[5]

After earning her masters degree in philosophy, Richardson rejoined the scientific world in the mid 1960s, working as a technician in the same lab as her husband.[3] Classes in botany and evolution that she had taken while pursuing her degree shaped her thinking about the work she was doing in the chemistry lab.[2] The breakthrough in her studies arose from the protein structure studies performed by herself, her husband and a team of scientists. During their crystallographic studies, Jane Richardson had come to realize that a general classification scheme can be developed from the recurring structural motifs of the proteins.[2] In 1977 she published her results in Nature, in a paper entitled "β-sheet topology and the relatedness of proteins".[2][6]

In the meantime, Jane and David Richardson had moved to Duke University, founding the Richardson Lab in 1970.[3] Richardson had developed the ribbon diagram over the course of her taxonomic research. Her iconic images first appeared in the journal Protein Chemistry in 1981.[5] They have since become a standard way of visualizing proteins, allowing scientists to probe more deeply in the the structure and function of these complex objects. Peter Agre, Nobel laureate and fellow Duke professor, said of the Richardsons' work: "Jane and David’s work allowed us to reveal the form of proteins, and from there it was easier to understand their function."[3]

Richardson's more recent work goes far beyond classification, stretching into the fields of synthetic biochemistry and computational biology. The Richardson Laboratory now investigates the design and manufacture of novel proteins and the development of software for modeling proteins and their interactions with surrounding molecules.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c A Protein Artist's Studio. Women in Chemistry. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Bihar, S. (August 2004). "Ribbon Diagrams and Protein Taxonomy" (pdf). The Biological Physicist 4. Division of Biological Physics of the American Physical Society. 
  3. ^ a b c d e Basgall, Monte (January 13, 2008). Ribbon Diagrams. Duke Research. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  4. ^ Fellows List - July 1985. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (2007). Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  5. ^ a b c Vanderkam, Laura (May 28, 2008). Finding Order: Jane Richardson. Scientific American. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
  6. ^ Richardson, Jane S. (August 11, 1977). "β-sheet topology and the relatedness of proteins". Nature 268: 495–500. doi:10.1038/268495a0. 

[edit] External links