President's Innovator AwardThe Society for Glycobiology President’s Innovator Award acknowledges the contributions of one scientist each year who has made a significant impact on society. 2025 Award Winner - Dr. Nicolle (Nicki) Packer
In addition to holding an appointment as Distinguished Professor of Glycomics in the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University, Dr. Packer is a Principal Research Leader at the Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, Griffith University, Director of the Multi-Omics Research Centre, the Academic Lead of the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility, and serves as Chief Investigator across multiple Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence in proteomics, nanobiophotonics, synthetic biology, and bioactives. Dr. Packer’s research focuses on the structure, function, and biomedical applications of glycans and glycoconjugates in health and disease, including cancer, infection, immunity, and therapeutic development. Her contributions encompass the improved analysis, and role of glycosylation, in many systems including the analysis and function of glycans attached to glycoproteins, glycolipids and proteoglycans, cell membrane glycosylation interactions, glycans as targets for bioimaging and drugs, the mucin glycome-microbiome connection and glycoinformatics. Dr. Packer has played a pioneering role in bringing together glycomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics to deepen our understanding of the biological roles of sugars at the cellular and molecular levels and was instrumental in establishing the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility and co-founded Proteome Systems Ltd, one of Australia’s early biotechnology success stories. In addition, one of her most influential contributions to the analytical community has been initiating the development of GlycoMod, a widely used bioinformatics tool that has been a cornerstone resource for the global glycoanalytical community since 2001 and continues solving the paucity of glycoinformatics tools by co-founding the international GlySpace Alliance. Finally, Nicki has co-founded key community initiatives, including the Human Glycoproteomics Initiative under HUPO and the Australian Glycoscience Society (Glyco@Oz). Her scholarly contributions include over 250 publications and serving as co-editor for the authoritative reference Essentials of Glycobiology. Her work has been cited tens of thousands of times, underscoring her global influence in glycobiology. It is fitting that Dr. Packer’s achievements have been recognized by numerous awards, including being invited as a 2021 Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), the 2021 HUPO Distinguished Achievement in Proteomic Sciences Award, the Australian 2022 Simpson Lecturer Award, and the 2024 Morrison Medal. Dr. Packer’s continuing efforts to champion innovation and collaboration in glycoscience are advancing both fundamental knowledge and its translation into real-world applications. Thus, it is equally fitting to honor her as the recipient of the 2025 SFG President’s Innovator Award. |
