Biology Professor Ralph Henry Awarded W.M. Keck Professorship

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Ralph Henry

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Robin Roberts, dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, has appointed biology professor Ralph Henry as the W. M. Keck Professor.

“Being appointed to the W. M. Keck Professorship is a tremendous honor. It is recognition, in part, for all of the research successes I have enjoyed at the university, and it’s a responsibility to continue to build on these successes,” said Henry. “Maybe more, it’s an award that speaks to the power of collaboration and the success that comes from working with inspired and inspiring colleagues and students. All of the successes I have enjoyed at the university are a reflection of the people that have worked with me in my laboratory and a reflection on my collaborators who have made it exciting to impact the university in ways I had not imagined when I joined the faculty in 1996.”

Henry’s research is focused on understanding how proteins accomplish the functions they perform to support life in living cells and working with students to harness those functions for industrial, medical, and biotechnology applications. 

"One of Dr. Henry's great passions is finding new approaches to teaching science," said Roberts. "That enthusiasm coupled with his innovative research makes him the perfect choice for the Keck Professorship. It is a privilege to give him this appointment, and I’m pleased that he accepted this well-deserved honor."

Henry will use the endowment to enhance scholarly interdisciplinary research and the creation of new businesses, both of which are centerpieces of the professorship. The fund will reinforce a new graduate training program in materials science that will be based on partnering with Arkansas businesses to explore the creation of new materials for new products. The program, supported by Governor Beebe and the University of Arkansas, will be housed in the NANO building’s innovation area and will integrate students from the chemistry, biology and physics departments in Fulbright College as well as students from the College of Engineering. 

“The potential for this program to impact students and the state’s economy is just enormous,” said Henry. “The collaborative projects I have conducted have all relied on a traditional path to train researchers and entrepreneurial thinking was a chance event. Imagine what could happen if students are exposed early and purposely to the economic impact and application-based research needs of companies in the state.”

Henry has worked with researchers from the university’s Center for Protein Structure and Function, the Institute for Nano Science and Engineering and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Their many exciting and diverse projects include understanding the structure and function of biological nanopores for design of biosensors, the development of engineered bacterial cell lines designed to reduce the production cost of commercially relevant proteins, understanding protein targeting mechanisms essential for assembly of light-capturing membranes and the development of methamphetamine-binding proteins (antibodies) for treatment of methamphetamine addiction. 

The work Henry has helped to create has produced training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students and has been instrumental in creating university-owned intellectual property that supports two spin-out companies, Boston Mountain Biotech and InterveXion Therapeutics, of which Henry serves as the vice president for biopharmaceutics.

The Keck Professorship was established through a gift from the W. M. Keck Foundation in Los Angeles to support scientific research and a matching gift to the university from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.