Anne Dell (born 11 September 1950) is an Australian

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of "biological ch ...

specialising in the study of glycomics and the

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may o ...

structures that modify

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

s. Anne's work could be used to figure out how pathogens such as HIV are able to evade termination by the immune system which could be applied toward understanding how this occurs in fetuses. Her research has also led to the development of higher sensitivity mass spectroscopy techniques which have allowed for the better studying of the structure of

s. Anne also established GlycoTRIC at Imperial College London, a research center that allows for glycobiology to be better understood in biomedical applications. She is currently Professor of Carbohydrate Biochemistry and Head of the Department of Life Sciences at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. Dell's other contributions to the study of Glycobiology are the additions she has made to the textbook "Essentials of Glycobiology" Dell was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.

Early life

Anne Dell was the youngest of seven children and grew up on a farm in the Australian outback, where she was educated at home by her mother using Correspondence School lessons until the age of eleven. She earned a First Class Honors degree in

Organic Chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J ...

from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany and various other facilitie ...

, and came to the UK to carry out her PhD at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, before joining Imperial College where she is currently employed. She also has a daughter, who was born in 1984.

Education and research

After gaining a First Class Honors degree (equivalent to B.S) in Organic Chemistry from the

, Dell was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship to study for a PhD at the

. After she was awarded her PhD in 1975 her doctoral supervisor, Howard R. Morris, moved to

as a lecturer in biochemistry and brought Dell with him. She would remain at Imperial for the rest of her career. Anne was elected to the Fellowship of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 2002 and was appointed a CBE in recognition of her services to science in 2009. Other honors include election to Fellowship of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

and Membership of the European Academy of Science. She has Honorary Doctorates from the

and the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...

in Canada. In 2017 Dell and her colleagues determined in their experiment that O-linked

glycosylation Glycosylation is the reaction in which a carbohydrate (or ' glycan'), i.e. a glycosyl donor, is attached to a hydroxyl or other functional group of another molecule (a glycosyl acceptor) in order to form a glycoconjugate. In biology (but not al ...

is not necessary for the natural replication cycle of HIV. They also determined that the diversity of the many GalNAc transferase enzymes that initiate O-linked carbohydrate attachment and the theoretical possibility that natural target cells for HIV ''in vivo'' could potentially complete such O-linked carbohydrate attachment to increase infectivity further. Dell's other contributions to the study of

Glycobiology Defined in the narrowest sense, glycobiology is the study of the structure, biosynthesis, and biology of saccharides ( sugar chains or glycans) that are widely distributed in nature. Sugars or saccharides are essential components of all living thi ...

are the additions she has made to chapter 50 of the textbook "Essentials of Glycobiology" this chapter gave methods for the characterization of

glycan The terms glycans and polysaccharides are defined by IUPAC as synonyms meaning "compounds consisting of a large number of monosaccharides linked glycosidically". However, in practice the term glycan may also be used to refer to the carbohydrate ...

structure, including residue composition, linkage types, and attachment to aglycones. It covered methods for detection of specific glycan sequences on

glycoprotein Glycoproteins are proteins which contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to amino acid side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glyco ...

s and it covers methods for characterizing structures in three dimensions. The methods varied widely and included nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS) techniques that allow more detailed structures to be observed in the study of

Honors and awards

* Tate and Lyle Medal,

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Royal Inst ...

(1986) * Whistler Award, International Carbohydrate Organisation (2000) * FRS (2002) * Haworth Memorial Lectureship,

(2003) * International

Glycoconjugate Glycoconjugates are the classification family for carbohydrates – referred to as glycans – which are covalently linked with chemical species such as proteins, peptides, lipids, and other compounds. Glycoconjugates are formed in processes ...

Organization Award (2005) * Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2008) *

(2009)

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Dell's profile
on the Royal Society website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dell, Anne Female Fellows of the Royal Society Living people 1950 births Place of birth missing (living people) Australian biochemists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British women scientists Women biochemists Australian women chemists Academics of Imperial College London Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)