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Authorised form of nameHynes; Richard Olding (1944-2026); biologist
Dates1944-2026
NationalityAmerican
Place of birthNairobi, Kenya, Africa
Date of birth29 November 1944
Date of death06 January 2026
OccupationBiologist
Research fieldCancer cells
Cell biology
Biochemistry
Biology
ActivityEducation: School in Liverpool; Cambridge University, BA 1966; MA 1970; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PhD 1971
Career: Faculty member in the biology department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1973); promoted to full Professor (1983); head of the biology department (1989-1991); director of the MIT Center for Cancer Research (1991-2001); Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research and affiliated with the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research (1999); associate member of the Broad Institute (2004); member of the Board of Governors of the Wellcome Trust (2007); served on the Life Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize (2012); Daniel K Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research Emeritus, David H Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2026).
Memberships:
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Guggenheim Fellowship 1982
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow 1987
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow 1987
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, HHMI Investigator 1988
National Academy of Medicine, Member 1995
National Academy of Sciences, Member 1996
President, American Society for Cell Biology 2000
Inaugural American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) Fellow 2016
Awards/Medals:
Gairdner Foundation International Award 1997
E.B. Wilson Medal, American Society for Cell Biology 2007
Robert and Claire Pasarow Medical Research Award – Cardiovascular 2008
Earl Benditt Award, North American Vascular Biology Organization 2010
Distinguished Investigator Award, International Society for Matrix Biology 2012
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy, Fellow 2014
Paget-Ewing Award, Metastasis Research Society 2018
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election16/03/1989
Age at election44
PublishedWorksRCN 12988
RCN 12452
OtherInfoConducted seminal work on the role of cell adhesion in normal and pathological processes, starting with the discovery of the extracellular matrix (ECM) protein, fibronectin, in 1973. Subsequently, he investigated its connection via integrin transmembrane receptors to the actin cytoskeleton and identified and analysed many of the key proteins involved in cell adhesion.
Investigated the network of proteins surrounding cells to understand its roles in the spread of cancer throughout the body. In particular, his team has shown the essential role of cell - ECM and cell - cell interactions in promoting metastatic spread of cancer cells, which is responsible for 90% of cancer deaths.
SourceMIT Biology, Richard O. Hynes, [URL: https://biology.mit.edu/profile/richard-o-hynes/; last accessed: 02/02/2026]
American Association for Cancer Research, Richard O. Hynes PhD (1944-2026), [URL: https://www.aacr.org/professionals/membership/aacr-academy/fellows/richard-o-hynes-phd/; last accessed: 02/02/2026]
Wikipedia, Richard Hynes: [URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hynes; last accessed: 02/02/2026]
CodeNA228
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
EC/1989/15Hynes, Richard Olding: certificate of election to the Royal Society1988
IM/GA/GGRS/8546Hynes, Richard Olding1989
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