Glycobiology, 2015, vol. 25, no. 2, 135 doi: 10.1093/glycob/cwu135 Obituary
Obituary A tribute to G. Gilbert Ashwell
John A. Hanover
Published by Oxford University Press 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
135
Downloaded from http://glycob.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet on July 10, 2015
George Gilbert Ashwell (Gil), a pioneer in the field of Glycobiology, died on June 27, 2014, at the age of 97. Gil received his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1948, and after a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship, he moved to the NIH, the then Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. His early work focused on intermediary metabolism and, among his accomplishments, was the discovery of D-xylulose phosphate, an intermediate in the pentose cycle; intermediates in the catabolism of ascorbic acid; and the identification of beta-ketogulonic acid as an intermediate in the synthesis of L-xylulose, the key sugar in pentosuria. Gil’s research shifted
dramatically in the late 1960s when he developed an enzymatic method for radiolabeling serum glycoproteins by removing the terminal sialic acid and labeling the underlying galactose residue. He, along with his long time friend and collaborator Anatol Morell at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, made the serendipitous observation that the serum half-life of ceruloplasmin labeled in this manner was reduced from many hours to just minutes. Gil discovered that the labeled material accumulated in the liver, and postulated that there must be a plasma membrane receptor (then referred to as a “binding protein”) that recognized and internalized the desialylated product. When this proved to be the case, he went on to purify the asialoglycoprotein receptor, one of the earliest receptors, if not the first, to be characterized. That receptor is also referred to eponymously as the Ashwell-Morrell receptor (AMR). Some of Gil’s thoughts on this were captured in an interview in Nature Medicine in 2008 (http://www.nature.com/nm/ journal/v14/n6/full/nm0608-608.html). Gil’s seminal contributions were recognized with a number of prestigious awards and honors, including the Gairdner Foundation Prize in 1982, the ASBC-Merck Prize in 1984, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Scientist in 1989. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1979, received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Paris in 1988, and was given the Karl Meyer Award along with Dr. Saul Roseman in 1993 by the Society for Glycobiology. It is a measure of the respect and affection in which he was held that Gil was named the first NIH Institute Scholar in 1984. Even after his formal retirement, Gil continued studying glycoprotein metabolism in the C. elegans system. I had the great pleasure of working closely with Gil on this work and our interaction was both productive and stimulating. Gil was always one of the first people in the lab in the morning and worked with tremendous purpose and precision. He was always a joy to be around. Throughout his career he served as an excellent mentor and inspiration to his many colleagues. All of us will miss him greatly.
Obituary A tribute to G. Gilbert Ashwell
John A. Hanover
Published by Oxford University Press 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
135
Downloaded from http://glycob.oxfordjournals.org/ at Karolinska Institutet on July 10, 2015
George Gilbert Ashwell (Gil), a pioneer in the field of Glycobiology, died on June 27, 2014, at the age of 97. Gil received his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1948, and after a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship, he moved to the NIH, the then Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. His early work focused on intermediary metabolism and, among his accomplishments, was the discovery of D-xylulose phosphate, an intermediate in the pentose cycle; intermediates in the catabolism of ascorbic acid; and the identification of beta-ketogulonic acid as an intermediate in the synthesis of L-xylulose, the key sugar in pentosuria. Gil’s research shifted
dramatically in the late 1960s when he developed an enzymatic method for radiolabeling serum glycoproteins by removing the terminal sialic acid and labeling the underlying galactose residue. He, along with his long time friend and collaborator Anatol Morell at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, made the serendipitous observation that the serum half-life of ceruloplasmin labeled in this manner was reduced from many hours to just minutes. Gil discovered that the labeled material accumulated in the liver, and postulated that there must be a plasma membrane receptor (then referred to as a “binding protein”) that recognized and internalized the desialylated product. When this proved to be the case, he went on to purify the asialoglycoprotein receptor, one of the earliest receptors, if not the first, to be characterized. That receptor is also referred to eponymously as the Ashwell-Morrell receptor (AMR). Some of Gil’s thoughts on this were captured in an interview in Nature Medicine in 2008 (http://www.nature.com/nm/ journal/v14/n6/full/nm0608-608.html). Gil’s seminal contributions were recognized with a number of prestigious awards and honors, including the Gairdner Foundation Prize in 1982, the ASBC-Merck Prize in 1984, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Scientist in 1989. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1979, received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Paris in 1988, and was given the Karl Meyer Award along with Dr. Saul Roseman in 1993 by the Society for Glycobiology. It is a measure of the respect and affection in which he was held that Gil was named the first NIH Institute Scholar in 1984. Even after his formal retirement, Gil continued studying glycoprotein metabolism in the C. elegans system. I had the great pleasure of working closely with Gil on this work and our interaction was both productive and stimulating. Gil was always one of the first people in the lab in the morning and worked with tremendous purpose and precision. He was always a joy to be around. Throughout his career he served as an excellent mentor and inspiration to his many colleagues. All of us will miss him greatly.
