# Kurt Drickamer
Kurt Drickamer holds the Chair in [Biochemistry](https://www.edgepedia.org/biochemistry) in the Department of Life Sciences at [Imperial College London](https://www.edgepedia.org/imperial-college-london) and is known for defining the framework by which animal sugar-binding proteins, the lectins, are classified, including coining the term C-type lectin.[1](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/k.drickamer) • [2](https://sfg.memberclicks.net/km_2012-award-winner) His research concerns receptors that bind endogenous carbohydrate structures, forming the basis for cell-cell adhesion and for the selective removal of proteins from circulation, and receptors that bind foreign carbohydrates on potentially pathogenic micro-organisms as part of the innate, antibody-independent immune system.[1](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/k.drickamer)
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Current position | Chair in Biochemistry, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London[1](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/k.drickamer) |
| Field | Glycobiology; carbohydrate-recognition by animal lectins[1](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/k.drickamer) |
| Signature work | "Engineering galactose-binding activity into a C-type mannose-binding protein", Nature, 1992[3](https://doi.org/10.1038/360183a0) |
| Early career | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1977 to 1981[4](https://libgallery.cshl.edu/items/show/35963) |
| Award | 2012 Karl Meyer Award, Society for Glycobiology[2](https://sfg.memberclicks.net/km_2012-award-winner) |
| Textbook | *Introduction to Glycobiology*, third edition, 2011, co-authored[2](https://sfg.memberclicks.net/km_2012-award-winner) |
| Recent funding | BBSRC award of £509,033 for a human lectin array, October 2021 to October 2024[5](https://gtr.ukri.org/person/CFA6DB98-0E98-4375-A01C-4C298AECD4D4) |
## Career
Drickamer's early career was spent at [Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory](https://www.edgepedia.org/cold-spring-harbor-laboratory). The laboratory's archives hold his correspondence from 1977 to 1981, and its repository lists a 1981 [Journal of Biological Chemistry](https://www.edgepedia.org/journal-of-biological-chemistry) paper from that period on the amino-acid sequence of the precursor of rat-liver alpha-2u-globulin, alongside work on the red cell anion transport protein and the red cell membrane.[4](https://libgallery.cshl.edu/items/show/35963) • [6](http://repository.cshl.edu/view/cshl_author/drickamer=5Fkurt.html)
By 1988 he was at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University, where his paper on carbohydrate-recognition activity in diverse proteins sharing a common primary structure motif was received on 8 August 1988 and published in Biochemical Society Transactions in February 1989.[7](https://doi.org/10.1042/bst0170013) The 1992 Nature paper on engineered sugar binding also carries a Columbia University affiliation.[3](https://doi.org/10.1038/360183a0) According to a 1998 review in *Immunological Reviews* written with [William I. Weis](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-weis) and Taylor, he was at the [University of Oxford](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-oxford), and he subsequently moved to Imperial College London, where the ORCID record 0000-0001-5026-5996 lists a single employment, in the Department of Life Sciences.[8](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-065x.1998.tb01185.x) • [9](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5026-5996)
## Representative work
Around the classification that made his name sit the papers that built it: the 1986 Journal of Biological Chemistry paper showing that mannose-binding proteins isolated from rat liver contain carbohydrate-recognition domains linked to collagenous tails, and the 1988 Journal of Biological Chemistry paper "Two distinct classes of carbohydrate-recognition domains in animal lectins".[3](https://doi.org/10.1038/360183a0) • [10](https://doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9258(19)62698-0)
## The C-type lectin framework
Proteins were classified as C-type after sequencing of the chicken hepatic lectin, the rat hepatic lectin, and the hepatic mannose receptor revealed a shared motif in the carbohydrate-recognition domain; C-type lectins occur throughout the animal kingdom and include collectins, selectins, endocytic receptors, and proteoglycans.[12](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK20735/?report=classic)
The C-type CRD is an approximately 115 to 130 amino acid segment with a recognizable consensus sequence containing characteristically spaced, disulfide-bonded cysteine residues.[12](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK20735/?report=classic) The 1992 Nature experiment demonstrated the framework's predictive power: galactose-binding activity could be engineered into a C-type mannose-binding protein, showing that sugar specificity within a conserved fold is specified by identifiable structural features.[3](https://doi.org/10.1038/360183a0) The classification has since been extended: the carbohydrate-recognition domain is now more generally defined as the [C-type lectin-like](https://www.edgepedia.org/c-type-lectin-like) domain (CTLD), CTLDs are categorized into 16 groups distinguished by domain architecture, and the human genome encodes 86 CTLD-containing proteins, the mouse genome 123.[13](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK579916/) Not all proteins carrying the CTLD bind glycans or Ca2+.[13](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK579916/)
## Collaborations and textbook
His research at Imperial is a joint project in the Division of Molecular Biosciences.[1](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/k.drickamer) The 1998 Immunological Reviews synthesis of the C-type lectin superfamily in the immune system was co-authored, and work from the collaboration of the 1990s is still cited in 2025 papers on glycan analysis probes.[8](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-065x.1998.tb01185.x) • [14](https://doi.org/10.1093/glycob/cwaf031) He co-authored the third edition of the textbook *Introduction to Glycobiology*, published in 2011, and he authored the chapter "Discovery and Classification of Glycan-Binding Proteins" in *Essentials of Glycobiology* (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2017).[2](https://sfg.memberclicks.net/km_2012-award-winner) • [15](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/k.drickamer/publications) He also served for a decade as deputy chair of the Steering Committee for the Consortium for Functional Glycomics.[2](https://sfg.memberclicks.net/km_2012-award-winner)
## Recent work
The laboratory's current focus is glycan-binding receptors of the immune system and human disease.[16](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mediaguide/index.asp?PeopleID=1478) A BBSRC award of £509,033 to Imperial College London funded "A human lectin array for characterizing host-pathogen interactions" from October 2021 to October 2024, following an earlier award of £405,679 for a bovine C-type lectin receptor atlas from March 2017 to September 2020.[5](https://gtr.ukri.org/person/CFA6DB98-0E98-4375-A01C-4C298AECD4D4) The resulting 2024 Journal of Biological Chemistry paper describes a human lectin array built around carbohydrate-recognition domains for characterizing interactions with pathogenic microbes.[17](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11566865/) In 2024 his group published papers on the arrangement of sugar-binding sites in BDCA-2 and dectin-2 dimers and on preformed mincle dimers stabilized by an interchain disulfide bond, both in [Glycobiology](https://www.edgepedia.org/glycobiology).[15](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/k.drickamer/publications) A 2025 Glycobiology paper, with Drickamer as corresponding author at Imperial, applies the human lectin array to rapid in vitro screening of sugar-based epitopes that can be used as targeting tags for therapeutics.[18](https://doi.org/10.1093/glycob/cwaf011)
## References
1. [Kurt Drickamer | About | Imperial College London](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/k.drickamer)
2. [2012 Karl Meyer Award citation, Society for Glycobiology](https://sfg.memberclicks.net/km_2012-award-winner)
3. [Engineering galactose-binding activity into a C-type mannose-binding protein (Nature, 1992)](https://doi.org/10.1038/360183a0)
4. [Drickamer, L. Kurt, CSHL Archives Repository](https://libgallery.cshl.edu/items/show/35963)
5. [Kurt Drickamer, UKRI Gateway to Research](https://gtr.ukri.org/person/CFA6DB98-0E98-4375-A01C-4C298AECD4D4)
6. [Browse by CSHL Author, CSHL Scientific Digital Repository](http://repository.cshl.edu/view/cshl_author/drickamer=5Fkurt.html)
7. [Demonstration of carbohydrate-recognition activity in diverse proteins (Biochem Soc Trans, 1989)](https://doi.org/10.1042/bst0170013)
8. [The C-type lectin superfamily in the immune system (Immunological Reviews, 1998)](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-065x.1998.tb01185.x)
9. [Kurt Drickamer (0000-0001-5026-5996), ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5026-5996)
10. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9258(19)62698-0
11. [Animal lectins: a historical introduction and overview (Biochimica et Biophysica Acta)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304416502003082)
12. [C-type Lectins, Essentials of Glycobiology (NCBI Bookshelf)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK20735/?report=classic)
13. [C-Type Lectins, Essentials of Glycobiology, 4th edition (NCBI Bookshelf)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK579916/)
14. [Tools for investigating host-microbe crosstalk (Glycobiology, 2025)](https://doi.org/10.1093/glycob/cwaf031)
15. [Kurt Drickamer | Publications | Imperial College London](https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/k.drickamer/publications)
16. [Imperial College London Media Guide entry](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mediaguide/index.asp?PeopleID=1478)
17. [A human lectin array for characterizing host-pathogen interactions (PubMed Central)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11566865/)
18. [Application of a human lectin array to screening sugar-based targeting tags (Glycobiology, 2025)](https://doi.org/10.1093/glycob/cwaf011)
19. [Recent insights into structures and functions of C-type lectins (PubMed)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26163333/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in glycobiology*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 11, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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