The Glycobiology Significant Achievement Award was established in 2016 by Oxford University Press (publisher of Glycobiology) and the Society for Glycobiology for new and mid-career scientists that have made a key discovery during their early careers with the potential to have a substantial impact on the glycoscience community. This Award is presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society.

2023 Awardees
Dr. Matthew S. Macauley & Dr. Sean Stowell

The Glycobiology Significant Achievement Award is given annually by Oxford University Press (publisher of Glycobiology) to honor new or mid-career scientists who have made key discoveries during their early careers with the potential to have a substantial impact on the glycoscience community.

Oxford is delighted to present a 2023 Glycobiology Significant Achievement Award to Dr.Matthew S. Macauley, Associate Professor, University of Alberta, Edmonton. The award will be given to Dr. Macauley during the Annual Meeting of the Society for Glycobiology, which will be held in Hawaii this fall. 

Throughout his career, Dr. Macauley has combined glycan chemistry with a robust multidisciplinary approach to make important discoveries in areas related to human health. During his doctoral research (2004-2010) with Dr. David Vocadlo, (Simon Fraser University) he worked on O‑GlcNAcase, publishing >20 papers in highly regarded journals. There, he helped develop a class of carbohydrate-based inhibitors that have since advanced to clinical trials. During his subsequent training as a fellow with Dr. James Paulson (2010-2014) then as an Assistant Professor (2014-2017) at The Scripps Research Institute he shifted to the study of complex glycan recognition, publishing >20 highly regarded papers, most in the field of Siglecs (sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectins) in immune regulation. He contributed to development of powerful glycan-based nanoparticle immune modulators. When he joined the University of Alberta in 2017, he was already a prolific and respected contributor to the glycosciences. READ MORE....

Oxford University Press is equally proud to present the honor of a 2023 Glycobiology Significant Achievement Award to Dr. Sean Stowell, who is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Joint Program in Transfusion Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also is the Medical Director of the Apheresis Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Associate Director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Glycosciences. Dr. Stowell’s award also will be given during the Annual Meeting of the Society for Glycobiology, which will be held in Hawaii this fall.

Dr. Stowell has established a highly productive and innovative research group that is focused on glycobiology and transfusion medicine. His research has helped to define the underlying mechanisms responsible for the development of immunological barriers that prevent the optimal treatment of hematologic diseases. In addition to developing models to define the pathophysiology of transfusion complications (including those in patients with sickle cell disease), his group uncovered the role of glycans in shaping important aspects of immune barriers to the effective treatment of hematologic diseases in general.  His work has led to fundamental new insights into innate immunity against carbohydrate molecular mimicry.  He has pioneered studies into the roles of galectins in protecting individuals from microbes that utilize molecular mimicry, including defining the tolerance mechanisms that prevent blood group positive individuals from generating anti-blood group antibodies, and how blood group positive individuals protect themselves against blood group positive microbes, which was unclear in the field.  READ MORE...