Richard Olding Hynes FRS (born 29 November 1944)HYNES, Prof. Richard Olding
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014; online edn,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2014 is a British

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and the Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at the

Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT ( ; also referred to as the Koch Institute, KI, or CCR/KI) is a cancer research center affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) located in Cambridge, Massachusetts ...

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 ...

. His research focuses on cell adhesion and the interactions between cells and the

extracellular matrix In biology, the extracellular matrix (ECM), also called intercellular matrix, is a three-dimensional network consisting of extracellular macromolecules and minerals, such as collagen, enzymes, glycoproteins and hydroxyapatite that provide s ...

, with a particular interest in understanding molecular mechanisms of

cancer metastasis Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

. He is well known as a co-discoverer of

fibronectin Fibronectin is a high- molecular weight (~500-~600 kDa) glycoprotein of the extracellular matrix that binds to membrane-spanning receptor proteins called integrins. Fibronectin also binds to other extracellular matrix proteins such as collage ...

molecules, a discovery that has been listed by

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...

ScienceWatch as a

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

candidate.

Education

Hynes earned his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1966 and

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1970 from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, both in biochemistry. He received his Ph.D. in biology from the

in 1971. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund from 1971 to 1974.

Academic career

Hynes became a faculty member in the biology department at MIT in 1973 and was promoted to full professor in 1983. He was awarded Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator status in 1988. He served as the head of the biology department from 1989 to 1991 and as the director of the MIT Center for Cancer Research from 1991 to 2001, and became the Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research and affiliated with the Koch Institute in 1999. Since 2004 he has been an associate member of the Broad Institute. Hynes served as the president of the American Society for Cell Biology in 2000. He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Wellcome Trust since 2007. He also served on the Life Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2012. He has also published on public policy and participated in the development of United States research guidelines for stem cell research, particularly embryonic stem cells.

Awards and honors

Hynes received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1982. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1987, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1989, a member of the Institute of Medicine in 1995, and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1996. Hynes received the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1997. In 2007, the American Society for Cell Biology awarded Hynes and Zena Werb their most prestigious award, the E.B. Wilson Medal. In 2022 he was awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hynes, Richard Olding British biologists Fellows of the Royal Society Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Living people 1944 births Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the AACR Academy Members of the National Academy of Medicine Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research