Gilbert Ashwell
Gilbert Ashwell | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 16, 1916 Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Died | June 27, 2014(aged 97) Washington, D.C. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Illinois(B.A., M.S.) |
| Known for | Discovery ofasialoglycoprotein |
| Awards | National Academy of Sciences |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Role ofceruloplasmininWilson disease |
| Institutions | Columbia University,National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases |
Gilbert Ashwell(July 16, 1916 – June 27, 2014) was an Americanbiochemistat theNational Institutes of Health.He was elected as a member of theNational Academy of Sciencesfor his work with Anatol Morell in isolating the firstcell receptor.
Biography[edit]
Ashwell was born inJersey City, New Jerseyin 1916. After high school, he went to college to further his education. He attended theUniversity of Illinois,where he earned his B.A.in 1938 and M.S. in 1941. He then went toColumbia Universityin New York, which was closer to his hometown, to spend two years doing research. In 1950, Ashwell joined the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases.[1]This Institute had grown and later split into two institutes, which are theNational Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseasesand theNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Ashwell worked at the latter as an emeritus scientist after his retirement.[1]
Ashwell’s research[edit]
Ashwell’s goal as a researcher was to devise a labeling serumglycoproteinsin order to study the role ofceruloplasmininWilson disease.[1]With another researcher named Anatol G. Morell, he worked to propose that membranelectinsremove senescent circulating glycoproteins, and discovered one of the earliest known carbohydrate receptors.[1]They were able to devise a labeling procedure which allowed them to remove enzymes of the glycoproteins'sialic acidresidue. By completing this process, they were able to incorporate other substances into the protein. In 1974, Ashwell and Morell happened to discover that a certain receptor in a human’sliveris able to recognize a specific glycoprotein calledasialoglycoprotein.[2]Ashwell explained that he was not specifically looking for the asialoglycoprotein when he found it.[2]
Ashwell died on June 27, 2014, from pneumonia in a Washington, D.C., area hospital. He was 97.[3]
See also[edit]
Sources[edit]
- ^abcdKresge, Nicole, Robert D. Simoni, and Robert L. Hill. “Hepatic Carbohydrate Binding Proteins and Glycoprotein Catabolism: the Work of Gilbert G. Ashwell.”The Journal of Biological Chemistry.n.d. Web. 11 March 2010.
- ^ab“Gilbert Ashwell: Sweet on Science.”Nature Medicine.2008. Web. 11 March 2010.
- ^Barnes, Bart (23 July), "Gilbert Ashwell, NIH researcher, dies at 97",The Washington Post(Washington D.C.) captured at 6:07 July 23, 2014.
External links[edit]
- Paper dealing with his major discovery
- John A. Hanover and William B. Jakoby, "G. Gilbert Ashwell", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2015)
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