Richard Henderson CH FRS FMedSci HonFRSC, born on 19 July 1945 in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a molecular biologist and biophysicist known for his pioneering work in electron microscopy of biological molecules. He was educated at Newcastleton primary school, Hawick High School, and Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh. Henderson went on to study physics at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a BSc degree with First Class Honours in 1966. He then pursued postgraduate studies at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1969.
Henderson's research career began with his doctoral work on the structure and mechanism of chymotrypsin under the supervision of David Mervyn Blow at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. His interest in membrane proteins led him to Yale University as a post-doctoral researcher, where he worked on voltage-gated sodium channels. Returning to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1973, Henderson collaborated with Nigel Unwin to study the structure of the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin using electron microscopy. Their seminal paper published in "Nature" in 1975 established a low-resolution structural model for bacteriorhodopsin, demonstrating that membrane proteins have well-defined structures.
Following this, Henderson continued his work on bacteriorhodopsin independently and made significant contributions to the field of electron crystallography. In 1990, he published an atomic model of bacteriorhodopsin by electron crystallography in the "Journal of Molecular Biology". This model was the second-ever atomic model of a membrane protein, and the techniques he developed for electron crystallography are still in use today.
Together with Chris Tate, Henderson developed conformational thermostabilisation, a method that enhances protein stability while retaining its chosen conformation. This technique has been crucial in crystallising and studying the structures of several G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Building on this work, Henderson and Tate founded the MRC start-up company, Heptares Therapeutics Ltd (HTL) in 2007, which focuses on developing new drugs targeting GPCRs linked to various human diseases.
In recent years, Henderson has returned to hands-on research, focusing on single-particle electron microscopy. He aims to routinely obtain atomic structures without relying on crystals. He has made significant contributions to this field, including the development of direct electron detectors that enabled single-particle cryo-electron microscopy to achieve its goals.
Throughout his illustrious career, Henderson has received numerous awards and honours. He was awarded the William Bate Hardy Prize in 1978 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1983. He received the Sir Hans Krebs Medal from the Federation of European Biochemical Societies in 1984 and became a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1998. In 1999, he was awarded the Gregori Aminoff Prize (together with Nigel Unwin). He also received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 2016 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017, shared with Jacques Dubochet and Joachim Frank, for developing cryo-electron microscopy for high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution.
Richard Henderson's groundbreaking contributions to electron microscopy and protein structure determination have revolutionized the field of molecular biology. His work has not only advanced our understanding of biological molecules but also paved the way for important developments in pharmaceuticals and medicine.
richard henderson
Scientist, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/group-leaders/h-to-m/richard-henderson/
Model for the structure of bacteriorhodopsin based on high-resolution electron cryo-microscopy R Henderson, JM Baldwin, TA Ceska, F Zemlin, E Beckmann, … Journal of molecular biology 213 (4), 899-929, 1990 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:1yQoGdGgb4wC
Three-dimensional model of purple membrane obtained by electron microscopy R Henderson, PNT Unwin Nature 257 (5521), 28-32, 1975 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:u-x6o8ySG0sC
Optimal determination of particle orientation, absolute hand, and contrast loss in single-particle electron cryomicroscopy PB Rosenthal, R Henderson Journal of molecular biology 333 (4), 721-745, 2003 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:Mojj43d5GZwC
Structure of a β1-adrenergic G-protein-coupled receptor T Warne, MJ Serrano-Vega, JG Baker, R Moukhametzianov, PC Edwards, … Nature 454 (7203), 486-491, 2008 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:OU6Ihb5iCvQC
Molecular structure determination by electron microscopy of unstained crystalline specimens PNT Unwin, R Henderson Journal of molecular biology 94 (3), 425-440, 1975 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:zYLM7Y9cAGgC
The potential and limitations of neutrons, electrons and X-rays for atomic resolution microscopy of unstained biological molecules R Henderson Quarterly reviews of biophysics 28 (2), 171-193, 1995 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:hqOjcs7Dif8C
Electron-crystallographic refinement of the structure of bacteriorhodopsin N Grigorieff, TA Ceska, KH Downing, JM Baldwin, R Henderson Journal of molecular biology 259 (3), 393-421, 1996 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:maZDTaKrznsC
Projection structure of rhodopsin GFX Schertler, C Villa, R Henderson Nature 362 (6422), 770-772, 1993 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:TFP_iSt0sucC
High-resolution noise substitution to measure overfitting and validate resolution in 3D structure determination by single particle electron cryomicroscopy S Chen, G McMullan, AR Faruqi, GN Murshudov, JM Short, SHW Scheres, … Ultramicroscopy 135, 24-35, 2013 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:08ZZubdj9fEC
Structure of purple membrane from Halobacterium halobium: recording, measurement and evaluation of electron micrographs at 3.5 Å resolution R Henderson, JM Baldwin, KH Downing, J Lepault, F Zemlin Ultramicroscopy 19 (2), 147-178, 1986 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:evX43VCCuoAC
MRC image processing programs RA Crowther, R Henderson, JM Smith Journal of structural biology 116 (1), 9-16, 1996 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:RHpTSmoSYBkC
Three-dimensional structure determination by electron microscopy of two-dimensional crystals LA Amos, R Henderson, PNT Unwin Progress in biophysics and molecular biology 39, 183-231, 1982 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:a0OBvERweLwC
Molecular mechanism of vectorial proton translocation by bacteriorhodopsin S Subramaniam, R Henderson Nature 406 (6796), 653-657, 2000 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:Ybze24AUAC
Path of the polypeptide in bacteriorhodopsin. DM Engelman, R Henderson, AD McLachlan, BA Wallace Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 77 (4), 2023-2027, 1980 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:ipzZ9siozwsC
Outcome of the first electron microscopy validation task force meeting R Henderson, A Sali, ML Baker, B Carragher, B Devkota, KH Downing, … Structure 20 (2), 205-214, 2012 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:RGFaLdJalmkC
The structure of the purple membrane from Halobacterium halobium: analysis of the X-ray diffraction pattern R Henderson Journal of molecular biology 93 (2), 123-138, 1975 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:LkGwnXOMwfcC
Beam-induced motion of vitrified specimen on holey carbon film AF Brilot, JZ Chen, A Cheng, J Pan, SC Harrison, CS Potter, B Carragher, … Journal of structural biology 177 (3), 630-637, 2012 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:MXK_kJrjxJIC
Electron diffraction analysis of structural changes in the photocycle of bacteriorhodopsin. S Subramaniam, M Gerstein, D Oesterhelt, R Henderson The EMBO journal 12 (1), 1-8, 1993 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:hMod-77fHWUC
Cryo-protection of protein crystals against radiation damage in electron and X-ray diffraction R Henderson Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences …, 1990 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:Y5dfb0dijaUC
THE PURPLE MEMBRANE FROM HALOBACTERIUM HALOBIUM R Henderson Annual review of biophysics and bioengineering 6 (1), 87-109, 1977 Link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?viewop=viewcitation&hl=en&user=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ&citationforview=Dg6IGLQAAAAJ:J-pR_7NvFogC
Summary: Richard Henderson (or variants) may refer to:
Richard Henderson (jurist) (1734–1785), Colonial American judge and land speculator Richard McNeil Henderson, (1886 - 1972) British engineer and colonial HK administrator Richard Alexander Henderson (1895–1958), First World War stretcher-bearer at Gallipoli and the Somme Dickie Henderson (1922–1985), English music hall, theatre, film and television entertainer Rick Henderson (1928–2004), American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger Richard Henderson (biologist) (born 1945), Scottish molecular biologist Richard Henderson (solicitor) (born 1947), Scottish solicitor Richard Henderson (bishop) (born 1957), Irish Anglican bishop Richard Henderson (mayor) (1815–1878), American politician Rickey Henderson (born 1958), American baseball player Richard Henderson (Kentucky politician) (born 1971), member of the Kentucky House of Representatives Richard Henderson (Hawaii politician), member of the Hawaii Senate
URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Henderson
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Content: Richard Henderson (or variants) may refer to:
Richard Henderson (jurist) (1734–1785), Colonial American judge and land speculator Richard McNeil Henderson, (1886 - 1972) British engineer and colonial HK administrator Richard Alexander Henderson (1895–1958), First World War stretcher-bearer at Gallipoli and the Somme Dickie Henderson (1922–1985), English music hall, theatre, film and television entertainer Rick Henderson (1928–2004), American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger Richard Henderson (biologist) (born 1945), Scottish molecular biologist Richard Henderson (solicitor) (born 1947), Scottish solicitor Richard Henderson (bishop) (born 1957), Irish Anglican bishop Richard Henderson (mayor) (1815–1878), American politician Rickey Henderson (born 1958), American baseball player Richard Henderson (Kentucky politician) (born 1971), member of the Kentucky House of Representatives Richard Henderson (Hawaii politician), member of the Hawaii Senate
See also Henderson (surname)