One 2023 recipient of this Award is Dr. Kelly G. Ten Hagen, Senior Investigator and Chief, Developmental Glycobiology Section, and Associate Scientific Director, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Ten Hagen began her scientific career as a PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Stanley N. Cohen at Stanford where she studied aspects of DNA replication. Way ahead of her time, Dr. Ten Hagen “skipped the postdoc” and joined the University of Rochester as a research assistant professor. There she began a decades long collaboration with Dr. Larry Tabak focused on the structure and function of UDP GalNAc polypeptide:N-Acetyl-galactosaminyltransferases (GalNAc-Ts). She was among the first to rigorously prove that a subset of GalNAc-Ts require glycopeptide substrates, laying the foundation for our current understanding that densely O-glycosylated proteins are modified by the concerted activity of multiple GalNAc-Ts. In 2001 Dr. Ten Hagen joined the intramural research program at NIH and rose through the ranks ultimately achieving Senior Investigator status, and appointment as an Associate Scientific Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. In one of her earliest studies at NIH, Dr. Ten Hagen demonstrated that mucin-type O-glycans were essential for life. Thus began a series of elegant studies using Drosophila to demonstrate the many biological roles played by mucin-type O-glycans including epithelial tube formation, cell adhesion, secretion of extracellular matrix, and regulation of furin cleavage in vivo. Dr. Ten Hagen subsequently led a team of four NIH laboratories to explore the role of O-glycosylation in modulating furin cleavage of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Dr. Ten Hagen has also conducted several seminal studies with mouse models of GalNAc-T function, including the demonstration that Galnt3 specifically alters Muc10 glycosylation and the oral microbiome.
Dr. Ten Hagen is an exceptional scientific citizen. She has served on several editorial boards (including Glycobiology) and has held leadership roles in both the SFG and the ASBMB as a Council member and founding member of the Women in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Committee. Dr. Ten Hagen has served tirelessly as a highly effective advocate and leader for women and underrepresented groups in science. She has been instrumental in advocating for changes in the reporting, investigation, and adjudication of harassment with the NIH intramural program, approaches subsequently adopted in the extramural research community. For her substantive scientific accomplishments and exceptional service, Dr. Ten Hagen has been elected as a Fellow of the AAAS (2019) and the ASBMB (2023). She was co-recipient of the NIH 2019 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award, and in 2021, Dr. Ten Hagen received an NIH Director’s Award for her efforts to address structural racism in biomedical research.
Dr. Ten Hagen is an exceptional leader and role model in biomedical research and a most deserving recipient of the 2023 Rosalind Kornfeld award.
