Rosalind Kornfeld

Rosalind Kornfeld née Hauk was born in Dallas, Texas and then grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She earned a bachelor of science degree from George Washington University in 1957.[2] She went on to receive her Ph.D. degree in 1961 working on enzymes in rabbit muscles.[3] For a brief period she stayed at George Washington University as a postdoctoral investigator before moving to the National Institutes of Health as a fellow working with Victor Ginsburg. She moved back to St. Louis in 1965 when she accepted a position at Washington University in St. Louis.[2] She started as a research instructor, was promoted to research assistant professor in 1971, and then research associate professor in 1978. In 1981 she was named a professor of medicine and professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics.[4] Kornfeld retired in 2001.[2]

Kornfeld founded the Academic Women's Network at Washington University and then served as its first president.[4][5] She also served as president of the Society of Glycobiology in 1993.[6]

Kornfeld's research laid the groundwork for the field of glycobiology with her investigations into nucleotide sugar biosynthesis and glycan ligands for lectins.[1] Korneld's notable accomplishments include defining the structure and function of N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphodiester alpha-N-acetylglucosaminidase, commonly known as the 'uncovering enzyme' or UCE.[7][8][9] She then worked to place that enzyme within the trans Golgi network.[8][10] Kornfeld wrote two influential reviews on oligosaccharides,[11][12] the second of which has been cited over 6000 times as of 2021.[13]

• Kornfeld, S.; Kornfeld, R.; Neufeld, E. F.; O'Brien, P. J. (1964-08-01). "The Feedback Control of Sugar Nucleotide Biosynthesis in Liver". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 52 (2): 371–379. Bibcode:1964PNAS...52..371K. doi:10.1073/pnas.52.2.371. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 300286. PMID 14206604.
• Kornfeld, R; Kornfeld, S (1976). "Comparative Aspects of Glycoprotein Structure". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 45 (1): 217–238. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.45.070176.001245. ISSN 0066-4154. PMID 786150.
• Kornfeld, Rosalind; Kornfeld, Stuart (1980). "Structure of Glycoproteins and Their Oligosaccharide Units". In Lennarz, William J. (ed.). The Biochemistry of Glycoproteins and Proteoglycans. Boston, MA: Springer US. ISBN 978-1-4684-1006-8. OCLC 840287599.
• Kornfeld, K.; Reitman, M.L.; Kornfeld, R. (1981). "The carbohydrate-binding specificity of pea and lentil lectins. Fucose is an important determinant". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 256 (13): 6633–6640. doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(19)69037-x. ISSN 0021-9258. PMID 7240233.
• Kornfeld, Rosalind; Kornfeld, Stuart (1985). "Assembly of Asparagine-Linked Oligosaccharides". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 54 (1): 631–664. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.54.070185.003215. ISSN 0066-4154. PMID 3896128.

Starting in 2007, the Academic Women's Network at Washington University has awarded the Rosalind Kornfeld Lecture for Distinguished Women in Science.[5] Since 2008, the Society for Glycobiology has awarded the Rosalind Kornfeld Lifetime Achievement Award to honor accomplishments in research within the field.[14] The second edition of Essentials in Glycobiology is dedicated to Rosalind Kornfeld and Roger W. Jeanloz, who are noted as "pioneers in the elucidation of glycan structure and function".[15]

Her husband was Stuart Kornfeld whom she met when she was a first year graduate student in biochemistry in 1958. They married in 1959 and worked together for 48 years; during his speech accepting the 2010 George M. Kober medal he acknowledged[16] the key role she played in their joint accomplishments, a situation that has been noted by others.[17][2][8] Her son, Kerry Kornfeld, is also a scientist and while he was in high school,[17] they jointly published a paper on lectins.[18]