Novel 3-dimensional platform for high-throughput glycomics discovery

Zhou, Xichun

Abstract

Glycomics is an emerging field that focuses on studying the interactions of carbohydrates with other biopolymers, particularly proteins, to gain a better understanding of the roles of carbohydrates in biological processes. Carbohydrate microarray technologies represent a new development at the frontier of glycomics. Microarrays of carbohydrates (glycoconjugates, polysaccharides, oligosaccharides and monosaccharides) allow high-throughput, parallel analyses. Parallel analyses greatly facilitate not only surveys of proteins for carbohydrate-binding activities but also elucidation of their ligands. However, there is a lack of technology for the fabrication of high quality carbohydrate microarrays for high-throughput analysis of glycomes because of the difficulty to reliably immobilize populations of chemically and structurally diverse glycans. ADA proposes to develop aminooxy- and hydrazide-functionalized dendrimer monolayer films on solid substrates for covalent, site-specific immobilization of unmodified carbohydrate probes. Miniaturized microwave radiation energy will also be evaluated for quick and convenient immobilization of the polysaccharides on the proposed slide platform. The resulting platforms will allow facile and effective fabrication of carbohydrate microarrays. The proposed novel slide platform will significantly increase the efficiency of glycan analysis and meet the growing needs of glycomics research and biomedical applications. Glycomics study the interactions of carbohydrates with other biopolymers, particularly proteins, to gain a better understanding of the roles of carbohydrates in biological processes. This proposed research seeks to develop a new tool for biologists to significantly increase the efficiency in glycan anaysis and meet the growing needs of glycomics research and biomedical applications. ? ? ?