Jane Shelby Richardson (born January 25, 1941) is an American biophysicist best known for developing the Richardson diagram, or ribbon diagram, a method of representing the 3D structure of proteins. Ribbon diagrams have become a standard representation of protein structures that has facilitated further investigation of protein structure and function globally. With interests in astronomy, math, physics, botany, and philosophy, Richardson took an unconventional route to establishing a science career. Today Richardson is a professor in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

at Duke University.

Biography

Richardson was born on January 25, 1941, and grew up in

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) f ...

. Her father was an electrical engineer and her mother was an English teacher. Her parents encouraged an interest in science and she was a member of local astronomy clubs as early as elementary school. She attended

Teaneck High School , motto_translation = To enrich the mind and improve the character , fundingtype = Public , schooltype = high school , grades = 9– 12 , district = Teaneck Public Schools , enrollment = 1,239 (as of 2021–22) , faculty = ...

and in 1958 won third place in the

Westinghouse Science Talent Search Westinghouse may refer to: Businesses Current companies *Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the company that manages the Westinghouse brand, with licensees: **Westinghouse Electric Company, providing nuclear power-related services ** Westingho ...

, the most prestigious

science fair Science and engineering fairs, hosted by schools worldwide, offer students the opportunity to experience the practices of science and engineering for themselves. In the United States, the Next Generation Science Standards makes experiencing the ...

in the United States, with calculations of the satellite Sputnik's orbit from her own observations. She continued her education intending to study mathematics, astronomy and physics at Swarthmore College. However, Richardson instead graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a minor in physics in 1962 before she pursued graduate work in philosophy at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Meanwhile she was able to enroll in plant taxonomy and evolution courses at Harvard that would later contribute to her big-picture approach to studying protein structure. Since Harvard's philosophy focused on modern philosophy instead of Richardson's interest, classical philosophy, Richardson left with her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from Harvard in 1966. Post-graduation, Richardson tried teaching high school, but soon realized that this career path was not for her. She subsequently rejoined the scientific world, working as a technician at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in the same laboratory as her husband, David Richardson, whom she met at Swarthmore College. At MIT, David Richardson was pursuing his doctorate in Al Cotton's lab using

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

to study the structure of staphylococcal nuclease. Jane Richardson learned the necessary technical skills and scientific background in biochemistry and biophysics through work at the lab as she worked alongside her husband, whom she still works with today. Richardson later began drawing her eponymous diagrams as a method of interpreting the structures of protein molecules. Over the course of her career, Richardson has been recognized by many prestigious institutions by the scientific community. In July 1985 she was awarded a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

for her work in biochemistry. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1991 and to the Institute of Medicine in 2006. As part of her role in the National Academy of Sciences, Richardson serves on panels that advise the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

and

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...

regarding nationally important scientific matters (e.g.,). For the 2012-2013 year, Richardson was elected president of the Biophysical Society for the 2012-2013 year, and she became a fellow of the

American Crystallographic Association The American Crystallographic Association, Inc. (ACA) is a non-profit, scientific organization for scientists who study the structure of matter via crystallographic methodologies. Since its founding in 1949 it has amassed over 2000 members worldwi ...

in 2012. Richardson is currently a James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry at Duke University. The Richardsons continue to jointly head a research group at Duke University. Richardson is a contributor to Wikipedia, where she is a prominent member of WikiProject Biophysics.

Scientific work and contributions

Richardson's first forays into science were in the field of

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

. By observing the position of Sputnik – at the time, the only

artificial satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisoto ...

– 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. Richardson joined her husband David C. Richardson, then completing his PhD work at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

, in studying the 3-dimensional structure of the staphylococcal nuclease protein (1SNS); by

for his doctoral thesis. Staphylococcal nuclease was among the first dozen protein structures solved. Classes in

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

that she had taken while pursuing her degree shaped her thinking about the work she was doing in the chemistry laboratory. During her

crystallographic Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics ( condensed matter physics). The w ...

studies, Jane Richardson had come to realize that a general classification scheme can be developed from the recurring structural motifs of the proteins. In the meantime, Jane and David Richardson had moved to Duke University in 1970, where they solved the first crystal structure of superoxide dismutase (2SOD).; By 1977 she published her findings on protein relatedness in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', with a paper entitled "β-sheet topology and the relatedness of proteins". As Richardson developed the ribbon diagram to illustrate her findings over the course of her taxonomic research, her iconic images first appeared in the review journal ''Advances in Protein Chemistry'' in an article titled "The anatomy and taxonomy of protein structure" 1981, an early hallmark publication in structural bioinformatics. The diagrams have since become a standard way of visualizing protein structure, specifically depicting

beta-sheet The beta sheet, (β-sheet) (also β-pleated sheet) is a common motif of the regular protein secondary structure. Beta sheets consist of beta strands (β-strands) connected laterally by at least two or three backbone hydrogen bonds, forming a ge ...

topology and connections between

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha a ...

sequences, or

peptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. ...

s, that make up proteins. The protein folding process involves four levels:

primary structures Primary Structures: Younger American and British Sculptors was an exhibition presented by the Jewish Museum in New York City from April 27 to June 12, 1966. The show was a survey of recent work in sculpture by artists from the Northeast United Sta ...

, secondary structures,

tertiary structures Biomolecular structure is the intricate folded, three-dimensional shape that is formed by a molecule of protein, DNA, or RNA, and that is important to its function. The structure of these molecules may be considered at any of several length s ...

, and quaternary structures. Secondary structures result from hydrogen bond interactions between adjacent amino acids sequences to form

alpha helices The alpha helix (α-helix) is a common motif in the secondary structure of proteins and is a right hand-helix conformation in which every backbone N−H group hydrogen bonds to the backbone C=O group of the amino acid located four residues ear ...

or beta-sheets. Tertiary structures are a higher order of protein folding that depict the conformation of and connectivity between alpha-helices and beta-sheets in 3D. Richardson's ribbon diagrams illustrate beta-sheet topology and connectivity in higher-order protein structures. She formalized general rules about beta-sheets linkage via "hairpin" connections or "crossover" connections. In a hairpin connection a peptide backbone stems out of and loops around to return to the same beta-sheet end from which it left. A crossover connection involves the peptide backbone extending out of one beta-sheet and looping around to enter another beta-sheet on the opposite end of the protein. Her initial drawings and continual discoveries contribute to a broader understanding of protein energetics and evolution.

Peter Agre Peter Agre (born January 30, 1949) is an American physician, Nobel Laureate, and molecular biologist, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and director o ...

, 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". The Richardsons' more recent work has diversified beyond classification and crystallography. In the 1980s they stretched into the fields of synthetic biochemistry and computational biology as pioneers in the de novo design of proteins, a reverse engineering approach to make and test theoretical predictions about protein folding. In the 1990s the Richardsons developed the

kinemage A kinemage (short for kinetic image) is an interactive graphic scientific illustration. It often is used to visualize molecules, especially proteins although it can also represent other types of 3-dimensional data (such as geometric figures, socia ...

system of molecular graphics and David Richardson wrote the Mage program to display them on small computers, for the then-new journal

Protein Science ''Protein Science'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on the structure, function, and biochemical significance of proteins, their role in molecular and cell biology, genetics, and evolution, and their regulation and mechan ...

. Additionally, they developed all-atom contact analysis (see image) to measure "goodness of fit" inside proteins and in interactions with surrounding molecules. The Kinemage website offers interactive exploration of various 3D protein structures through computer displays using their Mage or KiNG graphics programs. Funded by a National Institute of Science (NIH) grant, the website is often used as a teaching tool. Textbooks and internet sites that have sourced images from Kinemages include ''Introduction to Protein Structure'' by Branden & Tooze, ''Fundamentals of Biochemistry'' by Viet, Voet & Pratt, ''Principles of Biochemistry'' by Horton et al., and the University of Mississippi's Kinemage Authorship Project. The Richardson Laboratory currently studies structural motifs in RNA as well as proteins, as part of the RNA Ontology Consortium (ROC) to better communicate RNA structure and function research findings. The laboratory has acted as assessors in the

CASP Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction (CASP), sometimes called Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction, is a community-wide, worldwide experiment for protein structure prediction taking place every two years since 1994. CASP prov ...

8 structure-prediction experiment (CASP), is one of the four developer teams on the PHENIX software system for

x-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

macromolecules A macromolecule is a very large molecule important to biophysical processes, such as a protein or nucleic acid. It is composed of thousands of covalently bonded atoms. Many macromolecules are polymers of smaller molecules called monomers. The ...

, and hosts the MolProbity web service for validation and accuracy improvement of protein and RNA crystal structures. MolProbity uses the KiNG program (successor to Mage) for showing 3D

graphics on-line. Jane Richardson serves on the worldwide

Protein Data Bank The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is a database for the three-dimensional structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids. The data, typically obtained by X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, or, increasingly, ...

(wwPDB) X-ray Validation Task Force and

NMR Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are perturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field (in the near field) and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with ...

Validation Task Force. As she continues to run the Richardson laboratory alongside her husband at Duke, where they use MolProbity to validate RNA, protein, crystal structures, she also adds science-related images, images of nature, and pictures for the WikiProject Biophysics to

Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...

Awards and honors

* 1958: Third place in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search (currently called the

International Science and Engineering Fair The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is an annual science fair in the United States. It is owned and administered by the Society for Science, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. Each May, more th ...

), a prestigious nationwide science fair * 1985:

, also called the "Genius Grant" awarded to individuals who have "shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and marked capacity for self-direction" * 1991: Election to National Academy of Science, an honor that recognizes exceptional previous and continual original research * 2006: Election to the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Eng ...

in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit institution that strives to offer objective science, technology, and health advice * 2012:

fellow in 2012 for fulfilling the following criteria: "a Member whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of crystallography or its applications that are scientifically or socially distinguished" * 2012 - 2013: President of the Biophysical society * 2019: Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics, an award of distinguished biophysics contributions

Notable publications

The following articles are classified as highly cited in field by Web of Science as of February 17, 2020: * * * * * *

References

External links