| RefNo | EC/1993/06 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Crowther, Richard Anthony: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1987 |
| Description | Citation typed. Supplementary certificate attached |
| Citation | Distinguished for his contributions to the theory and practice of biological structure determination. He has made many important advances in the methodology of image reconstruction from electron micrographs and carried out numerous analyses of specific biological structures and systems as diverse as icosahedral viruses and the paired helical filaments of Alzheimer's disease. His early work on non-crystallographic symmetry in protein crystallography led to lasting practical methods for the calculation of rotation and translation functions. Subsequently, he pioneered the analysis of electron microscope images of icosahedral viruses, cell walls, coated vesicles and clathrin cages, bacteriophage baseplates, the paired helical filaments of Alzheimer's disease and thin sections of intact muscle cells. Each of these studies has produced new and valuable information on the structure of the system. The studies have all set rigorous standards of structure analysis and contain unique and original ideas which have added to the armoury of reliable techniques for studying different kinds of systems and specimens. |
In a recent study of insect flight muscle in rigor he has deduced the complete structure from a single image of an oblique section and shown the distribution of myosin cross-bridges. This is another instance of a powerful innovation being introduced in the course of the analysis of a concrete problem. Another recent result of Crowther's has settled a long-standing problem in the pathology of Alzheimers disease. By a combined structural, immunological and biochemical study, he has shown that the so-called "straight" filaments found in parts of the brain are a polymorphic form of the paired helical filaments more generally observed.
[includes corrections to be made to original] |
| Extent | 2 sheets |
| AccessStatus | Closed |