Andy Byrd

Andy Byrd will be retiring from the National Cancer Institute in July 2024, after an illustrious career applying NMR to study biological systems. He began his career with a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Furman University and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry with Paul Ellis at the University of South Carolina, where he built NMR probes and studied thymidylate synthetase by 19F NMR. He then moved to The National Research Council in Ottawa where he received a National Research Council of Canada Research Associateship and rose up the ranks to Associate Research Officer, developing and applying solid-state 2H and 31P NMR to biological membrane systems. Next, he moved to Bethesda as a Research Chemist at the FDA before establishing the Macromolecular NMR Section at the NCI, which he led for >30 years. Andy and his research group made important technical advancements optimizing NMR methods and applying them to make biological insights. For example, he discovered allosteric pathways and characterized dynamic properties of enzymes involved in ubiquitination and developed methods to study membrane proteins, including GTPases. Andy also took on myriad leadership roles, including establishing the Structural Biophysics Lab (SBL), the revitalization of chemistry at NCI and creation of the Molecular Discovery Program, and acting as Chair of the world-wide Protein Data Bank Advisory Committee. He was actively engaged with the magnetic resonance community, serving as Chair of the 1992 Experimental NMR Conference (ENC) and co-chair of the 1996 International Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems (ICMRBS). As Chief of the SBL, Andy established one of the most diverse departments in the CCR. He has been a generous mentor and colleague who never turns down an opportunity to serve his local and international community.