He was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences for his work with Anatol Morell in isolating the first cell receptor.
[1] Ashwell’s goal as a researcher was to devise a labeling serum glycoproteins in order to study the role of ceruloplasmin in Wilson disease.
[1] With another researcher named Anatol G. Morell, he worked to propose that membrane lectins remove senescent circulating glycoproteins, and discovered one of the earliest known carbohydrate receptors.
[1] They were able to devise a labeling procedure which allowed them to remove enzymes of the glycoproteins' sialic acid residue.
In 1974, Ashwell and Morell happened to discover that a certain receptor in a human’s liver is able to recognize a specific glycoprotein called asialoglycoprotein.