4:00–6:00 pm Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, Room 1103
Dr. Richard Henderson gives the 3rd annual Coleman R. Seskind Lecture in the Biological Sciences: “Extending the reach of Cryo-EM,” from 4-5pm in KCBD 1103. (Informal reception to immediately follow the lecture, from 5-6pm in the 1st floor lobby.)
Richard Henderson, FRS FMedSci, is a structural biologist, with an undergraduate degree in physics from Edinburgh University, 1966. His research career began with a postgraduate degree at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge working on the structure of the digestive enzyme chymotrypsin using X-ray crystallography. He then started to work on membrane protein structure during his postdoctoral research at Yale University, with an emphasis on electron crystallography studying the light-driven proton pump bacteriorhodopsin. During the last 30 years, he has focused on single particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM) in which electron images of a thin film containing the protein molecules of interest are obtained without the need for crystals. By 2024, cryoEM has reached the stage where it is possible to obtain atomic structures of a wide variety of macromolecular complexes routinely without crystals, and it looks likely to overtake X-ray crystallography in productivity by early next year. He is now focused on understanding the remaining problems in cryoEM that need to be solved to make the method reach its true theoretical potential. Dr. Henderson has been at the MRC Laboratory for 58 years, and is now an Emeritus scientist.
The Coleman R. Seskind, M.D., Lecture in the Biological Sciences features a visiting lecturer working in any field represented in the Biological Sciences Division (BSD) who is a Nobel Laureate, Lasker Award winner, or other prominent scientist, and who will engage with faculty and students. The lectureship was established in 2021 by a generous gift from Coleman R. Seskind, M.D., a retired private practice physician and alumnus of the College and The Pritzker School of Medicine who previously worked in the Department of Pathology at the University of Chicago.