Glyn Dawson, PhD, an expert on lipid biochemistry and Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago, passed away on April 14, 2026. He was 83 years old.
Dawson pioneered the use of mass-spectrometry (MS) for analyzing sphingolipids, a type of lipids that provide structure for cell membranes, particularly in the nervous system. His work first identified gangliosides, which regulate cell signaling and adhesion, and he discovered processes involved with lysosomal hydrolase deficient disorders, a group of genetic metabolic disorders caused by deficiencies in enzymes that break down larger molecules.
Later, Dawson studied the role of sphingolipids in cell signaling in the nervous system and advanced our understanding of lipid functions in cell membranes. This led to research on how sphingolipids such as ceramides can enhance cell death programs, how much sphingolipids affect central nervous system-active drugs, and how these pathways are impacted by stress.
Dawson was especially interested in lipid pathology of the Batten disease family, a group of rare, fatal, inherited neurodegenerative disorders that primarily affect children, as well as in the function of enzymes that are mutated in different forms of these disorders. Because of the need to develop enzyme replacement therapies for lysosomal storage diseases, more recently he focused on using quantum dots as agents to deliver proteins to the central nervous system.
Dawson received his BS degree and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Bristol, England in 1964, and 1967 respectively. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh before joining the University of Chicago as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Biochemistry in 1969.
He was a noted teacher and mentor who trained 13 PhD students and 17 postdocs, and he was an avid collaborator with many scientific interactions at UChicago and around the world. He published over 230 manuscripts and reviews, and his research was continually funded by the NIH, Guggenheim Foundation, and Burroughs-Wellcome Foundation.
