The Society for Glycobiology President’s Innovator Award acknowledges the contributions of one scientist each year who has made a significant impact on society. The 2024 President’s Innovator Award will be presented to Dr. Jeffrey D. Esko, Distinguished Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and a Founding Director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at the University of California San Diego.

Dr. Esko has always been interested in the interface between cells and the extracellular environment. As an undergraduate with Mike Glaser at the University of Illinois and then as a Ph.D. student with Chris Raetz at the University of Wisconsin, his work focused on phospholipid assembly and signaling. He subsequently undertook postdoctoral work at the University of California Los Angeles and accepted his first faculty position at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB). There, his research focused on glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and proteoglycans and he published his first landmark paper on CHO cell mutants defective in GAG assembly in 1985. He remained at UAB from 1983 to 1996, where he rose through the ranks to full professor.

Dr. Esko moved to the University of California, San Diego in 1996, where he co-founded the Glycobiology Research and Training Center, with particular emphasis on the development of both introductory and advanced courses in Glycobiology. He was promoted to Distinguished Professor in 2015. Throughout his career, Dr. Esko has been a leader in the use of genetic models in the glycosciences, particularly to study GAG biology. Dr. Esko’s work has yielded over 250 research publications, more than 50 review articles and book chapters, and 10 patents. Dr. Esko’s early work focused on the GAG assembly process, in particular the use of somatic cell genetics to identify and characterize Chinese hamster ovary cell mutants defective in GAG biosynthesis. These mutants have been used by hundreds of laboratories world-wide and served as a benchmark for the evaluation of mutants in other cells and model organisms. He subsequently translated this work to model organisms, including C. elegans and the mouse. He provided the first genetic evidence that endothelial heparan sulfate proteoglycans bind, transport and present chemokines at the lumenal surface of blood vessels. His work has included analysis of adhesion and invasion of bacteria, parasites and viruses using cellular and animal models in which his group genetically manipulated proteoglycan formation. He also uncovered roles for heparan sulfate in mediating lipoprotein clearance in the liver. His laboratory has provided many tools and reagents to study GAGs, proteoglycans, and glycosylation, in general. Dr. Esko’s recent work utilizing in vivo tagging studies has shown sepsis-causing pathogens induce extensive remodeling of the vascular proteome. Most recently, he showed the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binds to cell surface heparan sulfate through the receptor binding domain and that both heparan sulfate and ACE2 are codependent receptors for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Additional work led to the identification of small molecules that modulate glycosylation and genome wide screenings to identify additional genes involved in heparan sulfate assembly.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Esko is a founder and scientific advisor for two companies, Zacharon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Biomarin) and TEGA Therapeutics, Inc., which focus on glycan therapeutics and lysosomal storage diseases. He also has made major contributions to education materials in the field and the training of the next generation of glycoscientists. In recognition of his many outstanding accomplishments, Dr. Esko has received numerous awards including being elected as an AAAS Fellow, winning the IGO award from the International Glycoconjugate Organization, and notably winning the Karl Meyer Award from SFG in 2007. Dr. Esko’s groundbreaking research utilizing cutting-edge technologies to reveal novel insights into GAG biology make him the ideal recipient of the 2024 President’s Innovator Award.