[2] He is also executive editor of the textbook Essentials of Glycobiology[3] and distinguished visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras and the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore.
Varki went to the Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore, India during which time he was also strongly influenced by his maternal grandfather Pothan Joseph, a famous journalist and founding editor of many Indian newspapers, including Deccan Herald.
He went on to receive basic training in physiology, medicine, biology, and biochemistry at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, continuing to maintain the first rank in his class throughout his schooling.
[citation needed] The research group led by Varki has made many contributions over the last few decades[5] towards understanding the biological roles of the sugar chains or "glycans" found on all vertebrate cell surfaces and glycoproteins.
In this field of Glycobiology, his present focus is on the Sialic Acids, which are found at the outermost position on such glycans, and which can be recognized by intrinsic receptors such as Selectins and the Siglecs (which he co-discovered and named as a sub-group of I-type Lectins), and also by the binding proteins of various pathogens.
[15] Varki's group has recently shown that a diet rich in red meat can result in accumulation of a non-human sialic acid molecule called Neu5Gc ("Gc") in the intestines and other tissues.
[17] Varki developed an idea proposed in 2005 by the late Danny Brower of the University of Arizona into a theory called Mind Over Reality Transition (MORT) which has been published in two letters[18][19] and two books.