Glycosaminoglycan Engineering: Towards Novel Polymers, New Tools, & Next-Gen Therapeutics
| Dates: | 3 May 2017 |
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| Times: | 11:00 - 12:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | Paul DeAngelis |
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Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), a class of polysaccharides that includes hyaluronan, heparin and chondroitin, are essential macromolecules in mammals. GAGs have therapeutic potential in areas ranging from angiogenesis, inflammation, hemostasis, tissue engineering/regenerative medicine, and cancer. GAG bioactivity is conferred by intrinsic structural features, such as disaccharide composition, glycosidic linkages, and sulfation pattern. Unfortunately, the synthesis of defined, homogeneous, or customized GAGs has been quite restricted. Chemoenzymatic syntheses harnessing microbial glycosyltransferases (‘synthases’ that naturally produce the extracellular bacterial capsules) in reactions with artificial and natural substrates have been employed to create a variety of new carbohydrates in recent years. Work towards the generation of new polysaccharide species, specifically-tagged probes, chimeric polymers, sulfated oligosaccharides, scaffold- and liposome-coating derivatives will be presented. These constructs provide new tools for studying biology as well as offer potential for future sugar-based therapeutics and drug delivery systems.
Speaker
Paul DeAngelis
Organisation: University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Travel and Contact Information
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Lecture Theatre
Michael Smith Building
Manchester
