Raymond Allen Dwek is the world’s leading Glycobiologist and has been recognised both nationally and internationally. He invented the term Gycobiology, defined as “the branch of science concerned with biological processes of sugars” and the word entered the Oxford English Dictionary, with a reference to Raymond Dwek in 1992.

 In 1994, The 7^th Wellcome Trust Award for Biology related to Medicine recognised the importance of Dwek’s contribution to Glycobiology and the establishment of this new field. This was followed by election to The Royal Society for which Dwek was‘recognised nationally and internationally for fundamental work in Glycobiology, for technical development and research allowing knowledge of oligosaccharides to be placed beside that of proteins and DNA’

Prof Dwek has been at Oxford University since 1964. Starting as a chemist he was one of the pioneers of using magnetic resonance in Biology. In 1965 the late Professor Rodney Porter (Nobel Laureate) persuaded Dwek to join him in the Biochemistry Department. There, as part of the newly formed multidisciplinary Oxford Enzyme Group, Raymond Dwek interacted with the finest minds and wrote his seminal text on NMR in Biological Systems.

With Porter, Dwek turned his attention to the structure of antibody combining sites and solved the first solution structure by assuming (correctly) that the immunoglobulin fold was conserved throughout evolution.  Dwek then turned his attention to the effector functions of the antibody and having identified the C1q binding site turned his attention to the conserved sugars on the antibody Fc. The expectation was that one single sugar structure would be found!

In 1985, he and colleagues demonstrated in a landmark paper that contrary to this expectation a population of 32 oligosaccharide structures, was associated with the IgG molecule. By evaluating over 1400 oligosaccharide sequences, they showed that in rheumatoid arthritis there was a ‘shift’ in this population. This important technical achievement prompted a revaluation of the biological role of oligosaccharides. It was the first suggestion that glycoproteins generally exist in many glycosylated variants, or glycoforms, in which an ensemble of oligosaccharides is associated with each glycosylation site. In 1988, in a seminal review, he introduced the term ‘Glycobiology’. This new discipline was based on technological innovations which allow the reading of sugar sequences- the third biochemical alphabet.

Dwek initially pioneered Glycobiology with the help of the US company Monsanto, which awarded him a blue-skies grant of around $50M in 1985 to develop the field. This was the first industrial grant that Oxford University had received in its 950 year history and the contract became the paradigm for future industrial grants with Oxford. The success of this partnership led to Monsanto (and Searle) building and funding the Glycobiology Institute in 1991. Dwek’s vision of building an interdisciplinary Institute was fulfilled, bringing together scientists from very different backgrounds to address pressing medical problems

However, by 1988, the technology for Glycobiology, that Dwek and his team had discovered was ready to be commercialised, so as to make it available to other scientists around the world. In yet another innovative step, Dwek persuaded the University of Oxford to spin off a company Oxford GlycoSystems in which the University was a partner. This was the first time the University had held an equity position and again set the trend for future commercialisation of start-ups. The company grew to over 200 employees became known as Oxford GlycoSciences reflecting its development into a pharmaceutical company, and was listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Dwek’s medical interests in Glycobiology had a dramatic impact on the field and indicated its huge medical potential in discovering new drug targets for therapy in many diseases. In a sustained and major programme he and his colleagues pioneered a new drug in the clinic for glycolipid storage disorders.The drug has worldwide approval, for Gaucher’s disease and has been in the clinic for 9 years. Importantly, there also are now, new antivirals agents emerging from research at his Institute which promise to revolutionise antiviral therapy.

As an educator Dwek has trained over 100 D.Phil students and over 200 postdoctoral students in his Institute, many of whom are active throughout the world. He also has a policy of promoting women in science. His undergraduate text books have been used by thousands of students world wide demonstrating his contribution at all levels of University teaching

In 2000, Professor Dwek, became head of the department of Biochemistry, the largest Biochemistry department in the world with over 1000 members at that time. He was responsible for raising the funding (£60M) and initiating the design and construction of the £60M building that was completed in 2009. Dwek led the department with distinction, putting the research programmes on a sound footing, recruiting well and setting up joint studentships with many countries.

Raymond Dwek has always seen science as a force for peace and understanding in which the standing of Oxford University as a neutral centre of excellence is important. Thus he worked closely with Stefana Petrescu, the Director of The Romanian Institute of Biochemistry in Bucharest to help in its restrucuring. With the Wellcome Trust he set up new research programmes and trained Romanians in Oxford. He remains an Advisor to Dr Petrescu. The President of Romania recognised his contributions by awarding him the Romanian Order of Merit in 2001.

Dwek is also the Advisor to the President of Ben Gurion University in BeerSheva. Israel. He has been instrumental in helping to establish the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, which has significant outreach to its neighbours. Dwek’s vision has always been in using “technology for peace” as part of the peace process.

Recent honours that Dwek has received include Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society (2006). the Huxley medal (2007) and the Kluge Chair of Technology and Society in 2007 at the Library of Congress. .In 2007, Dwek was elected the President of the Institute of Biology, which has a Royal Charter and some 12000 members. He provided incisive leadership to merge all the biology societies so as create one voice for Biology in the UK with around 100,000 members. Professor Dwek has published 3 books, 600articles and 75 patents.