Begun as the Medical Foundation of Buffalo in 1956, the facility was founded by local physician George Koepf, MD ’37, with generous support from Helen Woodward Rivas, Koepf’s patient and an heir to the Jell-O food company in LeRoy, N.Y. The foundation gained international recognition for structural biology and the study of disease.

At the outset, scientists relied on an experimental process called crystallography, where a crystalline substance is examined for patterns of diffraction (reflecting light), using X-rays or electrons to determine the substance’s atomic structure. However, crystals are notoriously difficult to grow, and predicting how they diffract is a complex task. 

In the early 1950s, Herbert Hauptman, a mathematician, discovered a set of groundbreaking methods of modeling crystallized structures, leading to a Nobel Prize in 1985 along with his research partner, Jerome Karle. 

Hauptman combined math and chemistry to “transform the way we use raw data and convert it into a solution to the structure,” says Jason Benedict, MBA ’21, professor of chemistry in UB’s College of Arts and Sciences and interim director of the center. Hauptman’s breakthrough forever changed science and medicine. In terms of structural biology, his mathematical techniques to break a protein’s structural code continue to deepen our understanding of biological processes, leading to more effective treatments for cancer, cardiovascular disease and other major conditions affecting people worldwide.

Hauptman joined the Medical Foundation in 1970 and eventually became its president and lead researcher. In 1994, the institute changed its name to Hauptman-Woodward to recognize his accomplishments and Helen Woodward Rivas’ generosity. 

In January 2025, HWI officially joined with the University at Buffalo, becoming the UB Hauptman-Woodward Research Institute, or UB-HWI. 

Whether using artificial intelligence (AI) or time-tested methods like crystallography, the renamed institute expands upon Hauptman’s legacy by leveraging UB’s strengths in computer science, biological engineering and structural biology.

This matters because medical researchers need to solve protein structures faster and more accurately to develop better medical treatments. UB is now at the center of this challenge.

“The UB-HWI will enable new collaborations with faculty and staff across the university, accelerate important advances in structural biology, and further enhance UB’s existing strength and impact in this important research area," Provost A. Scott Weber said. 

“The institute can be a real hub for interdisciplinary research and education,” Benedict says.

For example, the National Crystallization Center, housed at the institute and the only one of its kind in the country, uses rapid, robotic screening to run thousands of experiments commissioned from researchers throughout the world. 

Sarah Bowman, director of the center and associate professor of biochemistry at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is leading efforts to study how proteins form crystals. 

Bowman joined the research institute in 2017. “Since then, my work has expanded through a major grant establishing the Crystallization Center, and also with the chance to study pathogens and develop tools for cutting-edge structural biology methods,” she says. 

Bowman’s colleague, Assistant Professor of Structural Biology Michael Martynowycz, develops advanced electron diffraction techniques to study protein nanocrystals. By analyzing the structure of proteins and other molecules found in cell membranes, his lab discovers details about key biological processes—information that could help create more targeted and effective drugs. 

“By harnessing electron diffraction, we’re uncovering new protein structures at the nanoscale—critical insights that could lead to new ways of treating disease,” Martynowycz says. 

At UB’s new Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, Benedict says AI can help advance structural biology. “I’m interested to see what’s going on to better understand crystal structures, and how machine learning may be a new tool to dig deep for interactions faster and more efficiently than human eyeballs.” 

With the combined brainpower at UB-HWI, the institute will reveal paths to critical medical advances as it supports academic, government, industry and non-profit researchers, thanks to Hauptman-Woodward’s legacy of bold experimentation and intellect.