Jane Richardson
Jane Richardson was born and grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey. She received a BA in Philosophy in 1962 and an MA from Harvard in 1966. Although she does not have a formal PhD, she has been given three honorary doctorates: Swarthmore (1986), University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (1994), and University of Richmond in Virginia (2003).
From 1966 to 1969, she was a Technical Assistant in the Department of Chemistry at MIT in the same laboratory where her husband, David Richardson, was studying to get his PhD. Through her work at the lab, she learned the necessary technical skills and scientific background in biochemistry and biophysics to begin working alongside her husband, whom she still works with today.
Jane Richardson joined her husband David in studying the 3-dimensional structure of the staphylococcal nuclease protein (1SNS) by X-ray crystallography for his doctoral thesis. In 1969, they solved the crystal structure of Staphylococcal nuclease, which was among the first dozen protein structures solved. They spent a year at the NIH before moving to Duke University in 1970, where they solved the first crystal structure of superoxide dismutase (2SOD). By 1977, she had published her findings on protein relatedness in Nature, with a paper entitled “β-sheet Topology and the Relatedness of Proteins.”
While at Duke, Jane Richardson served as an Associate in the Department of Anatomy until 1984, a Medical Research Assistant in the Department of Biochemistry until 1988, and a Medical Research Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy until 1991, when she became a James B. Duke Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry.
Her most noted accomplishment has been her ribbon drawings outlining how proteins are structured and put together, first published in 1981 under the title, “The Anatomy and Taxonomy of Protein Structures.” The drawings (often referred to as the Richardson diagrams) have been used widely in computer adaptations, and her 1981 paper continues to be cited.
Jane and David Richardson continue to work together in their lab to figure out the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules. The Richardson Lab was a pioneer in the field of protein de novo design as well as Mage and kinemages, early molecular graphics systems. The Richardsons have been able to learn a great deal about aspects that affect the 3-D shape of proteins and how the 3-D shape affects the behavior of proteins. They have also designed and made synthetic proteins that reveal a great deal about how natural proteins work.
Jane Richardson has been the recipient of numerous awards and acknowlegments including:
- Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics (2019)
- President of the Biophysical Society (2012-2013)
- Fellow of the American Crystallographic Association (2012)
- Member, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2006)
- Emily M. Gray Award from the Biophysical Society (2001)
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991)
- Member/Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences (1991)
- MacArthur Foundation Fellow (1985)
Interview
This oral history interview was conducted with Jane S. Richardson on November 9, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry.