Robert Tycko Explained

Robert Tycko is an American biophysicist whose research primarily involves solid state NMR, including the development of new methods and applications^[1] to various areas of physics, chemistry, and biology.^[2] He is a member of the Laboratory of Chemical Physics in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.^[3] He was formerly a member of the Physical Chemistry Research and Materials Chemistry Research departments of AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. His work has contributed to our understanding of geometric phases in spectroscopy,^[4] physical properties of fullerenes,^[5] skyrmions in 2D electron systems,^[6] protein folding,^[7] and amyloid fibrils^[8] associated with Alzheimer’s disease and prions.

Education

Tycko received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University, where he majored in chemistry. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, under the direction of Alexander Pines, and then did postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania in the laboratory of Prof. Stanley J. Opella.^[9]

Selected honors

• 1997: Fellow of American Physical Society ^[10]
• 2001: NIH Director’s Award
• 2005: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science^[11]
• 2005: Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy, American Physical Society
• 2007: Hillebrand Prize, Chemical Society of Washington^[12]
• 2008: Fellow of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance
• 2014: Christian B. Anfinsen Award of the Protein Society^[13]
• 2020: Elected Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences^[14]

Notes and References

1. Citations of 'Theory for cross effect dynamic nuclear polarization under magic-angle spinning in solid state nuclear magnetic resonance: The importance of level crossings;, K.R. Thurber and R. Tycko, J. Chem. Phys. 137, 084508. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 137. 8. 084508. 10.1063/1.4747449. 22938251. 3443114. 2012. Thurber. Kent R.. Tycko. Robert.
2. Web site: Robert Tycko NIH Profile: Past Work.
3. Web site: Robert Tycko NIH Lab Website.
4. Citations of 'Adiabatic rotational splitting and Berry's phase in nuclear quadrupole resonance", R. Tycko, Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 2281'. Physical Review Letters. 58. 22. 2281–2284. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.58.2281. 10034704. 1987. Tycko. Robert.
5. Citations of 'Molecular dynamics and the phase transition in solid C60'. Physical Review Letters. 67. 14. 1886–1889. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.67.1886. 10044276. 1991. Tycko. R.. Dabbagh. G.. Fleming. R. M.. Haddon. R. C.. Makhija. A. V.. Zahurak. S. M..
6. Web site: Citations of 'Optically pumped NMR evidence for finite-size skyrmions in GaAs quantum wells near Landau level filling ν = 1', S.E. Barrett et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 5112 .
7. Citations of 'Detection of a transient intermediate in a rapid protein folding process by solid state nuclear magnetic resonance', K.-N. Hu, W.-M. Yau, and R. Tycko, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132, 24 . Journal of the American Chemical Society . 132 . 1 . 24–25 . 10.1021/ja908471n . 20000466 . 2805027 . 2010. Hu. Kan-Nian. Yau . Wai-Ming . Tycko . Robert .
8. Self-propagating, molecular-level polymorphism in Alzheimer's β-amyloid fibrils . Science . 307 . 5707 . 262–265 . 10.1126/science.1105850 . 15653506 . 2005 . Petkova . A. T. . Leapman . R. D. . Guo . Z. . Yau . W. M. . Mattson . M. P. . Tycko . R. . 2005Sci...307..262P . 24176417 .
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11. http://membercentral.aaas.org/fellows?LastName=&Section=All&Country=All&State=All&name=Tycko&company= AAAS Fellow listing
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13. Web site: Protein Society Awards History . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130406071106/http://www.proteinsociety.org/protein-society-awards/past-awards/ . 2013-04-06 .
14. Web site: 2020 Press release of National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected.