Richard Henderson

Dr. Richard Henderson CH FRS FMedSci HonFRSC is a pioneering British molecular biologist and biophysicist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge. He was a Fellow of Darwin College (1981-2012) and served as Director of MRC LMB (1996-2006). Henderson shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jacques Dubochet and Joachim Frank for developing cryo-electron microscopy for high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution.

• Education: BSc Physics (1st Class Honours, University of Edinburgh, 1966); PhD (University of Cambridge, 1969).
• Institutional Affiliation: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (since 1973); Yale University (postdoctoral, 1970-1973).

Henderson's research revolutionized structural biology by demonstrating that electron microscopy could achieve atomic resolution without crystallization. His work on bacteriorhodopsin (1975) established transmembrane alpha-helices as a common structural feature, while his 1990 atomic model of this protein became the second ever membrane protein structure determined by electron crystallography. Collaborative efforts with Chris Tate on conformational thermostabilization enabled breakthroughs in GPCR crystallography, leading to the formation of Heptares Therapeutics (2007).

Key contributions include:

• 1975 - First 3D structure of a membrane protein (bacteriorhodopsin) by electron microscopy
• 1990 - Atomic resolution electron crystallography of bacteriorhodopsin
• 1995 - Early theoretical framework for single-particle cryoEM
• 2017 - Nobel Prize in Chemistry for cryoEM development
• Development of direct electron detectors that achieved atomic-level imaging

Henderson's scientific awards include:

• 1978 - William Bate Hardy Prize
• 1983 - Elected Fellow of the Royal Society
• 1984 - Sir Hans Krebs Medal
• 1993 - Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine
• 1998 - Elected Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences
• 2016 - Copley Medal of the Royal Society
• 2017 - Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• 2018 - Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour

As mentor, Henderson trained multiple independent researchers including David Agard (UCSF), Per Bullough (Sheffield), Nikolaus Grigorieff (HHMI Janelia), Christopher Tate (MRC LMB), and Vinzenz Unger (Northwestern University). His current research focuses on advancing single-particle cryoEM for routine atomic structure determination without crystals, emphasizing lower voltage (100 keV) microscopes and improved detector technologies.