Anne Dell facts for kids

Anne Dell (born 11 September 1950) is an amazing Australian biochemist. She studies tiny sugar structures called carbohydrates that attach to proteins. This field is known as glycomics.

Professor Dell's work helps us understand how germs like HIV can hide from our body's defense system. This knowledge could even help explain how this happens in unborn babies. She also helped create better ways to study these sugar structures using a special tool called mass spectrometry. This tool helps scientists see the tiny parts of molecules.

Anne Dell also started GlycoTRIC at Imperial College London. This is a research center where scientists learn more about how glycobiology (the study of these sugar structures) can be used in medicine. She is currently a Professor of Carbohydrate Biochemistry and leads a department at Imperial College London. She also helped write a very important textbook called "Essentials of Glycobiology." In 2009, she received a special award called the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her great work in science.

Early Life and Learning

Anne Dell was the youngest of seven children. She grew up on a farm in the Australian outback, which is a very remote area. Her mother taught her at home using special lessons sent by mail until Anne was eleven years old.

She later went to the University of Western Australia. There, she earned a top degree in Organic Chemistry. After that, she moved to the UK to study for her PhD at the University of Cambridge. A PhD is a very high university degree. After finishing her PhD, she joined Imperial College London, where she still works today. She also has a daughter, who was born in 1984.

Discoveries and Research

After getting her excellent degree in Organic Chemistry, Anne Dell received a special scholarship. This scholarship allowed her to study for her PhD at the University of Cambridge. She earned her PhD in 1975. Her professor, Howard R. Morris, then moved to Imperial College London and invited Anne to join him. She has been at Imperial College ever since.

Professor Dell has received many important honors for her work. She became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2002. This is a very prestigious group of scientists. In 2009, she was made a CBE for her amazing contributions to science. She is also a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the European Academy of Science. She has also received special honorary doctorates from the University of Western Australia and the University of Waterloo in Canada.

In 2017, Professor Dell and her team made an important discovery about HIV. They found that a certain type of sugar attachment, called O-linked glycosylation, is not needed for HIV to copy itself. They also looked at how different enzymes might help HIV infect cells more easily.

Anne Dell also added important information to chapter 50 of the textbook "Essentials of Glycobiology." This chapter explains how to study the structure of sugar molecules, called glycans. It covers how to find out what they are made of and how they connect to other molecules. It also describes how to see their 3D shapes. The methods she wrote about include nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS). These advanced techniques help scientists understand these complex sugar structures in great detail.

Awards and Honors

• Tate and Lyle Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry (1986)
• Whistler Award, International Carbohydrate Organisation (2000)
• FRS (2002)
• Haworth Memorial Lectureship, Royal Society of Chemistry (2003)
• International Glycoconjugate Organization Award (2005)
• Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2008)
• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2009)