Stephen C. Harrison is professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology, professor of pediatrics, and director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Dynamics of

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Medicine at

Boston Children's Hospital Boston Children's Hospital (formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2013) is the main pediatric training and research hospital of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University. It is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children ...

, and investigator of the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

Education and career

He received his B.A. in chemistry and physics from Harvard in 1963, and was then a Henry fellow at the

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s. Since then it has remained a major medical r ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. In 1967, he received his Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard, was a research fellow there as well as a junior fellow in the Society of Fellows, and joined the Harvard faculty in 1971.

Research

His wide-ranging studies of protein structure have contributed insights to

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

architecture,

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

–

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

recognition, and

cellular signaling In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) is the Biological process, process by which a Cell (biology), cell interacts with itself, other cells, and the environment. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all Cell (biol ...

. Harrison has made important contributions to

structural biology Structural biology deals with structural analysis of living material (formed, composed of, and/or maintained and refined by living cells) at every level of organization. Early structural biologists throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries we ...

, most notably by determining and analyzing the structures of viruses and viral proteins, by

crystallographic Crystallography is the branch of science devoted to the study of molecular and crystalline structure and properties. The word ''crystallography'' is derived from the Ancient Greek word (; "clear ice, rock-crystal"), and (; "to write"). In J ...

analysis of protein–DNA complexes, and by structural studies of protein-kinase switching mechanisms. The initiator of high-resolution virus crystallography, he has moved from his early work on

tomato bushy stunt virus Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) is a virus of the tombusvirus family. It was first reported in tomatoes in 1935 and primarily affects vegetable crops, though it is not generally considered an economically significant plant pathogen. Depending u ...

(1978) to the study of more complex human pathogens, including the

capsid A capsid is the protein shell of a virus, enclosing its genetic material. It consists of several oligomeric (repeating) structural subunits made of protein called protomers. The observable 3-dimensional morphological subunits, which may or m ...

human papillomavirus Human papillomavirus infection (HPV infection) is caused by a DNA virus from the ''Papillomaviridae'' family. Many HPV infections cause no symptoms and 90% resolve spontaneously within two years. In some cases, an HPV infection persists and r ...

, the envelope of

dengue virus Dengue virus (DENV) is the cause of dengue fever. It is a mosquito-borne, single positive-stranded RNA virus of the family ''Flaviviridae''; genus '' Flavivirus''. Four serotypes of the virus have been found, and a reported fifth has yet to be ...

, and several components of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

. He has also turned some of his research attention to even more complex assemblies, such as

clathrin-coated vesicle Clathrin is a protein that plays a role in the formation of coated vesicles. Clathrin was first isolated by Barbara Pearse in 1976. It forms a triskelion shape composed of three clathrin heavy chains and three light chains. When the triskelia ...

s. He led the Structural Biology team at the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI) when it received

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...

(NIAID) funding of around $300 million to address key immunological roadblocks to

vaccine development and to design, develop and test novel

vaccine candidates.

Society memberships

He is a member of

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 ...

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 2,100 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

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 ...

and

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

Awards

* 1982 Ledlie Prize,

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 ...

* 1988 Wallace P. Rowe Award,

* 1990

Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry is an annual prize awarded by Columbia University to a researcher or group of researchers who have made an outstanding contribution in basic research in the fields of biology or biochemist ...

(with

Don Wiley Don Craig Wiley (October 21, 1944 – November 15, 2001) was an American structural biologist. Education Wiley received his doctoral degree in biophysics in 1971 from Harvard University, where he worked under the direction of the subsequent ...

and

Michael Rossmann Michael G. Rossmann (30 July 1930 – 14 May 2019) was a German-American physicist, microbiologist, and Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at Purdue University who led a team of researchers to be the first to map the structur ...

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 ...

* 1990 Harvey Lecturer, The

Harvey Society The Harvey Society or Harvey Society of New York is a learned society based in New York City, Named after the British scientist William Harvey (1578–1657), its scope is "the diffusion of knowledge of the medical sciences". Since 1905, the soci ...

, New York * 1995 George Ledlie Prize,

* 1997 ICN International Prize in Virology * 2001

Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is an annual award bestowed by the since 1952 for research in medicine. It carries a monetary prize of 120,000 Euro. The prize ceremony is traditionally held on the 14th of March, the birthday of Nob ...

(with Michael Rossmann) * 2005 Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Infectious Diseases Research * 2006

Gregori Aminoff Prize The Gregori Aminoff Prize is an international prize awarded since 1979 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the field of crystallography, rewarding "a documented, individual contribution in the field of crystallography, including areas concer ...

Crystallography Crystallography is the branch of science devoted to the study of molecular and crystalline structure and properties. The word ''crystallography'' is derived from the Ancient Greek word (; "clear ice, rock-crystal"), and (; "to write"). In J ...

(with David Stuart) * 2007 UCSD/Merck Life Sciences Achievement Award * 2011 William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award,

* 2012 Pauling Lectureship,

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

* 2014 Elected as a Foreign Member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of London. * 2015 The

Welch Award in Chemistry The Welch Award in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Robert A. Welch Foundation, based in Houston, Texas, to encourage and recognize basic chemical research for the benefit of mankind. The award, which has been given since 1972, is one of th ...

* 2015 Honorary Doctorate in Medicine,

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

* 2018 48th

Rosenstiel Award The Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research is awarded by Brandeis University. It was established in 1971 "as an expression of the conviction that educational institutions have an important role to play in the en ...

for research on proteins and viruses.

Personal life

Harrison has been married to Tomas Kirchhausen, who is currently a Professor at

, since 2013. They first met in 1978 at a small dinner hosted by

Ada Yonath Ada E. Yonath (, ; born 22 June 1939) is an Israeli crystallographer and Nobel laureate in Chemistry, best known for her pioneering work on the structure of ribosomes. She is the current director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for B ...

. In the fall of 1979, Tom moved to Cambridge, MA, to work with Harrison, and the two have been in a relationship ever since.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Stephen C. Structural biology American crystallographers HIV/AIDS researchers Harvard University alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Living people Foreign members of the Royal Society Year of birth missing (living people) American LGBTQ scientists Members of the American Philosophical Society Helen Hay Whitney Foundation fellows