chemistry

Steven Henikoff

Steven Henikoff is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Steven Henikoff rather than just read about it. In short: Steven Henikoff is a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and an HHMI Investigator. His field of study is chromatin-related transcriptional regulation.

Key takeaways

Steven Henikoff belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Steven Henikoff to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Steven Henikoff from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Steven Henikoff is a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and an HHMI Investigator. His field of study is chromatin-related transcriptional regulation. He earned his BS in chemistry at the University of Chicago. He earned his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard University in the lab of Matt Meselson in 1977. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and HHMI. In 1992, Steven Henikoff, together with his wife Jorja Henikoff, introduced the BLOSUM substitution matrices. The BLOSUM matrices are widely used for sequence alignment of proteins. In 2005, Henikoff was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. In 2025 Steven Henikoff was awarded the Rosenstiel Award for his transformative research on genome organization and gene expression.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Steven Henikoff

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Steven Henikoff claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Steven Henikoff before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Steven Henikoff ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Steven Henikoff

In research: Steven Henikoff appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Steven Henikoff in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Steven Henikoff is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American biochemists, American chemist stubs, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Steven Henikoff outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Steven Henikoff in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Steven Henikoff means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Steven Henikoff out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Steven Henikoff in simple terms?

Steven Henikoff is a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and an HHMI Investigator. His field of study is chromatin-related transcriptional regulation.

Why does Steven Henikoff matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Steven Henikoff?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Steven Henikoff.