Cell surface glycosylation and cancer; Cell surface glycosylation and inflammation–regulation by sulfotransferases; Mycobacterial sulfation pathways; New synthetic methods for glycoproteins and their mimetics; Biomaterial and interfacial design
A major lesson from eukaryotic genome sequencing projects is that the absolute number of genes an organism's genome encodes is not the best parameter for defining biological complexity. Instead, the complex functions associated with human health and disease are determined by combinatorial expansion of genomic information in the form of posttranslational modifications. Of these, the most ubiquitous is glycosylation, highlighting the importance of glycobiology in the postgenomic era. Our research comprises four major project areas: (1) development of chemical approaches for perturbing and studying glycan function within the context of living cells; (2) investigating the roles of microbial glycoconjugates in pathogenesis, with an emphasis on Mycobacterium tuberculosis; (3) development of tools for proteomics analysis of protein glycosylation, and (4) development of novel biomaterials engineered to resemble the surfaces of cells. Specifically, BCSDP trainees would have opportunities to translate some important discoveries into clinical practice. For example, trainees could participate in evaluating new biomaterials designed for use in the eye; (e.g., contact lenses), use newly developed protein and glycosylation analysis methods to study biomarkers of disease, evaluate new drugs for the treatment of eye disease, or study the efficacy and safety of novel drug delivery systems.
