A dramatic increase in the need for improved analytical methods in carbohydrate science has been fueled by the many physiologically important recognition events mediated by protein-carbohydrate interactions; by the roles of carbohydrates in such important health-related functions as inflammatory reactions, hormone action, cancer, viral infections, and cell development and differentiation; and by the great demand for analyses of the oligosaccharides attached to recombinant and natural glycoproteins. The proposed research projects of the Resource Center have been tightly integrated around the central theme of developing new technologies for the analysis of complex carbohydrates. Those technologies will be disseminated to the scientific community through many internal and external collaborative research projects, through training by the presentation of lecture and laboratory courses, short courses, workshops, seminars, and lectures at scientific meetings, and through the analysis of samples submitted to the Resource Center's service component. The technologies developed in the initial five-year period of this Resource Center have enabled a significant expansion in and new directions for the basic research proposed for the second five years. The proposed technological research and development projects are: (1) development of computer-assisted methods for structural characterization of oligosaccharides; (2) high sensitivity and high resolution analysis of oligosaccharides; (3) development of mass spectrometric techniques for linkage and stereochemical analysis of oligosaccharides; (4) characterizing the structure and function of C-type lectins in Xenopus development; and (5) determining the conformations and dynamics of complex carbohydrates, free in solution and bound to lectins. A central goal of the research projects is to develop methodologies and techniques to dramatically decrease the amount of sample required for structural characterization of complex carbohydrates.
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