Clarence A. "Bud" Ryan Jr.
Institute of Biological Chemistry
The first Washington State University scientist named to the National Academy of Sciences, Bud Ryan was internationally known for his discoveries that plants produce natural insecticides in response to pest attacks and to protect themselves from predation by herbivores.
Prior to his work, plants were assumed to contain natural insecticides call proteinase inhibitors all the time, as a deterrent to being eaten. Ryan debunked this assumption when he discovered that plants make the inhibitors in response to an attack. He and his research team isolated and synthesized the hormone that signals undamaged leaves to produce proteinase inhibitors. Called systemin, it was the first polypeptide hormone found in plants.
When his lab found that systemin triggers a cascade of reactions that head to a defense response, it spawned exploration of how polypeptide signals might be involved in regulating plant genes. Today, there are about 20 identified hormones in plants that regulate processes such as defense, development, and reproduction. Ryan’s crowning achievement came when his lab identified the location on the cells where systemin makes contact–the first step in the inhibitor-enzyme pathway.
Several of Ryan’s more than 250 publications have been ranked among the most cited in their discipline. His work has inspired research and innovations to enhance the environment, improve human nutrition, block cancerous tumor production, and much more.
Biography
Clarence A. "Bud" Ryan Jr., was a native of Butte, Montana. He earned a B.S. in chemistry at Carroll College in Helena in 1953, and an M.S. and doctorate in chemistry at Montana State University in 1956 and 1959. He was a postdoctoral fellow with the Science Research Institute at Oregon State University from 1959 to 1961 and the USDA Western Regional Laboratory, Albany, California, from 1961 to 1963.
He joined the WSU faculty in 1964 as an assistant agricultural chemist. He moved steadily up the academic ranks and took on additional administrative duties along the way. He served as chair of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry from 1977 to 1980 and as acting director of the Institute of Biological Chemistry from 1989 to 1990. From 1981 to 1982 he was visiting scientist in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington and in the Center for Biochemical and Biophysical Science at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. He retired from WSU in 1999 but continued to conduct research on a partial appointment. He published 250 papers and articles and held four patents.
Awards and Honors
- 2007 Fellow, American Society of Plant Biologists
- 2002 Honorary Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology
- 1997 Silverstein-Simione Award, International Society of Chemical Ecology
- 1993 Lifetime Achievement Award, WSU Faculty Association for Scholarship and Research
- 1993 Kenneth A. Spencer Award from the American Chemical Society
- 1992 Stephen Hales Prize from the American Society of Plant Physiologists
- 1991 Charlotte Y. Martin Professor in Agricultural Sciences
- 1986 National Academy of Sciences
- 1984 President's Faculty Excellence Award
"I try to tell young people that research is incremental.
There are many small advances. Sometimes there's a
quantum leap, but even that comes only because of each
small advance."
-- Clarence A. "Bud" Ryan
1931-2007