doi.bio/wayne_a_hendrickson

Wayne A. Hendrickson

Early Life and Education

Wayne A. Hendrickson was born on April 25, 1941, in New York City and grew up in Spring Valley, Wisconsin. He obtained a B.A. in biology and physics from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a Ph.D. in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University.

Career

Hendrickson is a renowned American biophysicist and university professor at Columbia University in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He also holds the position of Violin Family Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics. Additionally, he serves as the Chief Life Scientist in the Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory and is the scientific director of the New York Structural Biology Center.

Hendrickson's research focuses on biochemistry, crystallography, protein structure, biophysics, and cell biology. He is particularly interested in membrane proteins and their role in cellular function and metabolism. He has made significant contributions to the development of multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) methods and computer programs used to build and refine atomic models for proteins based on X-ray diffraction measurements.

Awards and Honours

• Aminoff Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• Gairdner International Award
• Harvey Prize of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Member of the National Academy of Sciences
• Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Uppsala University, Sweden
• Christian B. Anfinsen Award (1997)
• Gregori Aminoff Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1997)
• Merit Award of the National Institutes of Health
• Academy Medal, New York Academy of Medicine (2003)
• Paul Janssen Prize, Rutgers University (2004)
• Alexander Hollaender Award of the National Academy of Sciences
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (1984)

Notable Publications

• "Structure of an HIV gp120 envelope glycoprotein in complex with the CD4 receptor and a neutralizing human antibody" (2646 citations)
• "The antigenic structure of the HIV gp120 envelope glycoprotein" (1143 citations)
• "Structural Basis for Gating and Activation of RyR1" (175 citations)
• "Allosteric opening of the polypeptide-binding site when an Hsp70 binds ATP" (170 citations)
• "Selenomethionyl proteins produced for analysis by multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD): a vehicle for direct determination of three-dimensional structure"
• "Crystal structure of the tyrosine kinase domain of the human insulin receptor"