Molecular Horizons Industry Seminar - Dr Chris Ashwood

Glycans are sugar-based polymers found to modify biomolecules including lipids and proteins, as well as occur unconjugated as free polysaccharides. Due to their ubiquitous cellular presentation, glycans mediate crucial biological processes and are frequently sought after as biomarkers for a wide range of diseases. Identification of glycans present in samples acquired with mass spectrometry (MS) is a cornerstone of glycomics research, thus, the ability to rapidly identify glycans in each acquisition is integral to glycomics analysis pipelines. An additional challenge is that mass alone is insufficient to resolve the structural isomers, necessitating liquid chromatography (LC). 

Protea Glycosciences is a contract research organisation that offers standards and services to accelerate glycoscience research. This seminar will discuss the scientific foundations of the company’s approach, recent methodological advances in this space, as well as share a few notable examples of their analysis platform performance including multi-species glycome comparisons (plants through to mammals) and tissue-specific profiling.