Ronald T. Raines
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Ronald T. Raines is an American chemical biologist. He is the Roger and Georges Firmenich Professor of Natural Products Chemistry at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
. He is known for using ideas and methods of
physical organic chemistry Physical organic chemistry, a term coined by Louis Hammett in 1940, refers to a discipline of organic chemistry that focuses on the relationship between chemical structures and chemical reaction, reactivity, in particular, applying experimental to ...
to solve important problems in
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
.


Education

Raines was born and raised in the
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
suburbs of
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. His father was a Ph.D. chemist, having worked with Charles O. Beckman at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. Raines graduated from
West Essex High School West Essex High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in North Caldwell. The high school is part of the West Essex Regional School District, which is comprised of the constituent municipalities of Essex Fells, Fairfi ...
in
North Caldwell, New Jersey North Caldwell is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in northwestern Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a suburb of New York City. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 6,694, an ...
, where he was taught by award-winning chemistry teacher, Rex T. Morrison. He received Sc.B. degrees in chemistry and biology at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
, doing undergraduate research with Christopher T. Walsh on
pyridoxal phosphate Pyridoxal phosphate (PLP, pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, P5P), the active form of vitamin B6, is a coenzyme in a variety of enzymatic reactions. The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has catalogued more than 140 PLP-dependen ...
-dependent enzymes. He earned A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
for work with
Jeremy R. Knowles Jeremy Randall Knowles (28 April 1935 – 3 April 2008) was a professor of chemistry at Harvard University who served as dean of the Harvard University faculty of arts and sciences (FAS) from 1991 to 2002. He joined Harvard in 1974, received ...
on catalysis by
triosephosphate isomerase Triose-phosphate isomerase (TPI or TIM) is an enzyme () that catalyzes the reversible interconversion of the triose phosphate isomers dihydroxyacetone phosphate and D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. TPI plays an important role in glycolysis and i ...
. Also on his Ph.D. thesis committee were
Walter Gilbert Walter Gilbert (born March 21, 1932) is an American biochemist, physicist, molecular biology pioneer, and Nobel laureate. Education and early life Walter Gilbert was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 21, 1932, into a Jewish family, the so ...
and
Martin Karplus Martin Karplus (; March 15, 1930 – December 28, 2024) was an Austrian and American theoretical chemist. He was the Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University. He was also the director of the Biophysical Chemistry L ...
. Raines was a
Helen Hay Whitney Helen Julia Hay Whitney (March 11, 1875 – September 24, 1944) was an American poet, writer, horse racing, racehorse owner and breeder, socialite, and philanthropist. She was a member by marriage of the prominent Whitney family of New York. Ea ...
postdoctoral fellow with
William J. Rutter William J. Rutter (born August 28, 1928) is an American biochemist who cofounded the early biotechnology company Chiron Corporation together with Edward Penhoet and Pablo DT Valenzuela. As chairman of the department of biochemistry and biophy ...
in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the
University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...
, where he cloned and expressed the gene encoding bovine
pancreatic ribonuclease Pancreatic ribonuclease family (, ''RNase'', ''RNase I'', ''RNase A'', ''pancreatic RNase'', ''ribonuclease I'', ''endoribonuclease I'', ''ribonucleic phosphatase'', ''alkaline ribonuclease'', ''ribonuclease'', ''gene S glycoproteins'', ''Cerati ...
.


Career

Raines was a member of the faculty at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
from 1989 until 2017. There, he was the
Henry A. Lardy Henry A. Lardy NAS AAA&S APS (August 19, 1917 – August 4, 2010) was a biochemist and professor emeritus in the biochemistry department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1958, the Ame ...
Professor of Biochemistry,
Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling ( ; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist and peace activist. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. ''New Scientist'' called him one of the 20 gre ...
Professor of Chemical Biology, and a Professor of Chemistry. In 2009, he was a Visiting Associate in Chemistry at
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
; in 2014, he was the Givaudan–Karrer Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Universität Zürich. In 2017, he returned to
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
to join the faculty of his alma mater,
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
. He is also an Extramural Member of the
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT ( ; also referred to as the Koch Institute or KI) is a cancer research center affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United S ...
at MIT and an Associate Member of the
Broad Institute The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (IPA: , pronunciation respelling: ), often referred to as the Broad Institute, is a biomedical and genomic research center located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The institu ...
of MIT and Harvard. Altogether, he has mentored more than 120 graduate students and postdoctorates.Ronald T. Raines
- Chemistry Tree
Raines and his coworkers have made the following contributions. * Revelation of the basis for the conformational stability of collagen, which is the most abundant protein in animals. This work led to the discovery that unappreciated chemical forces—the ''n''→''π''* interaction and C5 hydrogen bond—contribute to the stability of nearly every protein. His hyperstable collagens are in preclinical trials for the detection and treatment of wounds and fibrosis. * Discovery of how to endow an otherwise innocuous human RNA-cleaving enzyme with toxicity that is specific for cancer cells. Such a ribonuclease is in a human clinical trial as an anti-cancer agent. * Mechanistic insight on cellular redox homeostasis and on imperatives for the uptake of cationic proteins and peptides by mammalian cells. * Invention of chemical processes to synthesize proteins and to convert crude biomass into useful fuels and chemicals, and fluorogenic probes to image the uptake of molecules into living cells. Raines serves on the editorial advisory boards of the journals ''
ACS Chemical Biology ''ACS Chemical Biology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published since 2006 by the American Chemical Society. It covers research at the interface between chemistry and biology spanning all aspects of chemical biology. The founding ...
''; ''
Bioconjugate Chemistry ''Bioconjugate Chemistry'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in bioconjugation and the interface between man-made and biological materials. The journal was established in 1990 and is published by the American Chemical ...
''; ''Current Opinion in Chemical Biology''; ''Peptide Science''; ''Protein Engineering, Design & Selection''; and ''
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 mechanism ...
''. He was the Chair of the
NIH The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
study section that evaluated grant applications in synthetic and biological chemistry.


Awards and honors

* Helen Hay Whitney Fellow *
Searle Scholar Award The Searle Scholars Program is a career development award made annually to support 15 young faculty in biomedical research and chemistry at US universities and research centers. The goal of the award is to support to exceptional young scientists wh ...
*
Presidential Young Investigator Award The Presidential Young Investigator Award (PYI) was awarded by the National Science Foundation of the United States Federal Government. The program operated from 1984 to 1991, and was replaced by the NSF Young Investigator (NYI) Awards and Preside ...
*Shaw Scientist Award *
Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry The Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, formerly known as the Paul-Lewis Award in Enzyme Chemistry was established in 1945. Consisting of a gold medal and honorarium, its purpose is to stimulate fundamental research in enzyme chemistry by scientists ...
, ACS *
Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...
*
AAAS Fellow Fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS) is an honor accorded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to distinguished persons who are members of the Association. Fellows are elected ...
*Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, ACS *Emil Thomas Kaiser Award
Protein Society The Protein Society is an international, not-for-profit, scholarly society with the mission to provide forums for the advancement of research into protein structure, function, design and applications. History The Protein Society was founded in ...
*Fellow,
Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...
*Rao Makineni Lectureship *Welch Lectureship,
Welch Foundation The Welch Foundation, based in Houston, Texas, is one of the United States' oldest and largest private funding sources for chemistry researchers. It is a non-profit organization named for Robert Alonzo Welch, an industrialist who provided the funds ...
*
Repligen Corporation Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes The Repligen Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes was established in 1985 and consists of a silver medal and honorarium. Its purpose is to acknowledge and encourage outstanding contributions to the understanding of the chemistry of biological ...
, ACS *Jeremy Knowles Award,
RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...
*
Humboldt Research Award The Humboldt Research Award (), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of Germany in recognition of t ...
*Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry, ACS *Fellow,
National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 201 ...
*Vincent du Vigneaud Award *Fellow,
Royal Society of Biology The Royal Society of Biology (RSB), previously called the Society of Biology, is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom created to advance the interests of biology in academia, industry, education, and research. Fo ...
*Max Bergmann Medal *Member,
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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, and other ...
*Khorana Prize,
RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...
*''Biopolymers'' Murray Goodman Memorial Prize, ACS *Undergraduate Teaching Prize,
MIT School of Science The MIT School of Science is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The School, which consolidated under the leadership of Karl Taylor Compton in 1932, is composed ...
*AstraZeneca Protein and Peptide Science Award,
RSC RSC may refer to: Arts * Royal Shakespeare Company, a British theatre company * Reduced Shakespeare Company, a touring American acting troupe * Richmondshire Subscription Concerts, a music society in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England * Rock Ste ...


References


External links


The Raines laboratory website


Sources

*
MIT Department of Chemistry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raines, Ronald T. 1958 births People from North Caldwell, New Jersey Living people 21st-century American chemists 21st-century American biochemists American people of Polish descent West Essex High School alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Harvard University alumni Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology Helen Hay Whitney Foundation fellows