Dr Rebeca Kawahara earned her PhD degree in Functional and Molecular Biology in 2015 from University of Campinas, Brazil and completed two postdoctoral positions with a focus on glycoproteomics in cancer at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil (2015-17) and glycoimmunology in the group of A/Prof Morten Thaysen-Andersen at Macquarie University (2017-18). From 2019-2022 she led an independent research programme in Colorectal Cancer glycobiology at Macquarie University, Australia, enabled by the prestigious fellowship from Cancer Institute NSW. Currently, Dr Kawahara leads the Clinical Glycoproteomics laboratory at the Institute for Glyco-core Research (iGCORE) at Nagoya University, Japan. Her research focus consists in developing and applying mass spectrometry-based glycoproteomics methods and multi-omics data integration systems to understand the structure and role of glycans in human health and diseases.

Prof Ethan Goddard-Borger obtained his PhD with Distinction in Chemistry as a Hackett Scholar in 2008 from the University of Western Australia. This work featured the development and commercialisation of a popular diazotransfer reagent that is used extensively across the chemical biology, synthetic chemistry and materials science fields. From 2009-2013, Ethan was a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia (Canada) with Prof. Stephen G. Withers FRS. There he studied the glycobiology of lysosomal storage disorders and developed preclinical drug candidates for Gaucher Disease. In 2013, Ethan returned to Australia as a VESKI Innovation Fellow to establish his independent research program at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne (Australia). His laboratory applies chemical, molecular and structural biology techniques to understand the roles of protein glycosylation in health and disease. Among other things, Ethan and his team have contributed notable new insights into the abundance, mechanism and roles of tryptophan C-mannosylation in mammals and apicomplexan parasites. He was awarded the 2022 Burnet Prize for this work, which provides a basis for on-going translational efforts to develop new treatments for cancer and infectious diseases.