Richard Lerner's Bioinspiration: Biomolecular Visualization and Modeling at Scripps Research

Abstract

AbstractIn thinking back on Richard Lerner's impact on our lab's trajectory at Scripps Research, we see his fingerprints on all the efforts we have undertaken over the last 40 years. Immunology and virology have been a continuing driving focus in our software development and application within the Molecular Graphics Lab (now the Center for Computational Structural Biology – CCSB), spurred on by the marriage of chemistry with biology that Richard enabled at Scripps. Many of our earliest and continuing computational docking targets have been focused on HIV with collaborations with Chi‐Huey Wong and Barry Sharpless. Along with subsequent computational work with Jeff Kelly, Reza Ghadiri, Udi Keinan and Ben Cravatt we have been able to sustain continuous efforts in developing and applying docking and other computational technologies to structural chemistry problems. In this remembrance, we give our reflections of Richard Lerner's character, vision, and his inspiration in our scientific lives and in the environment that he created at Scripps Research.