Grant: Project Grant

All cells in the human body are coated in a dense layer of carbohydrate molecules called glycans. Unlike nutritional carbohydates, glycans influence how cells communicate and advertise their health (or disease) status to other cells in the body. Recent work by us and others is revealing the molecular details of how glycans control specific immune responses; however, no therapeutics are currently approved that directly target these structures to treat diseases. We will address this gap in the therapeutic toolbox by synthesizing and validating new chemical material that can act at specific cellular pathways involved in making or destroying the glycans that are known to be involved in tuning immune responses. The results of this work will inform new therapeutic approaches to treat cancer.