ashwell’s goal as a researcher was to devise a labeling serum glycoproteins in order to study the role of ceruloplasmin in wilson disease. 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. they were able to devise a labeling procedure which allowed them to remove enzymes of the glycoproteins' sialic acid residue. by completing this process, they were able to incorporate other substances into the protein. 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. ashwell explained that he was not specifically looking for the asialoglycoprotein when he found it.