“Glycoscience: A Frontier in New Landscapes”

Sugar-like molecules, also known as ‘glycoconjugates”, are the most abundant biopolymers on our planet. This class of biological compounds also appears to be Nature’s choice for effective communication among the living cells. Through evolution of different animal species, the process of glycosylation, i.e. the propensity to utilize structurally and functionally different forms of glycoconjugation, has assumed a high degree of sophistication in the regulation of important biological events. For example, some 50-70% of all proteins seem to be modified with different sugar entities. In order to understand various biological processes, such as fertilization, cell differentiation, malignant growth, and cell-to-cell recognition, it is important to identify structurally and measure quantitatively various glycoconjugates in biological materials. While this has been inherently a difficult task, the recent advances in bioanalytical chemistry and instrumentation have led to the development of the new fields of glycomics and glycoproteomics. Therein lie numerous future opportunities to turn the knowledge of glycoscience into biomedical advances, disease diagnostic tools, discovery of new pharmaceuticals and vaccines, biocompatible materials, among other applications. In order to meet future challenges and opportunities, there is a need to educate a new workforce of scientists in glycobiology and glycoanalysis. With the current lack of coverage in these fields through traditional university educational means, certain curricular changes are in order. Moreover, there is a need to form partnerships and specialized centers of research excellence in glycoscience through crossfertilization of different scientific disciplines. An example will be provided through the recent collaboration between the researchers at the University of South Bohemia and the National Center for Glycomics and Glycoproteomics at Indiana University in the area of host-pathogen interactions.