Glycan News and Research

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Potential vaccine that resembles sugar structures may help fight against gut bacterium C. difficile

A vaccine against one of the most dangerous hospital germs may soon be available. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam and the Freie Universität Berlin have developed a substance that elicits an immune response against the gut bacterium Clostridium difficile.

13 May 2016

Certain sugars in the body play key role in colitis, colon cancer development

An Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientist has discovered that certain sugars produced by the body play an important role in the development of colitis and, ultimately, colon cancer. The new finding could potentially lead to therapies for ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease and colon cancer.

5 May 2016

First-ever immature antibody found in immune molecules may help combat HIV

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and collaborating institutions have described the first-ever immature or “teenage” antibody found in a powerful class of immune molecules effective against HIV.

6 Apr 2016

TSRI scientists track how HIV-fighting antibodies develop over time

In a new study, a team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute tracked how a family of these HIV-fighting antibodies develops over time. The research shows how a future vaccine might trigger the immune system to produce these antibodies more effectively.

16 Dec 2015

Biomedical scientists discover mechanism by which secreted proteins age

Physiological processes in the body are in large part determined by the composition of secreted proteins found in the circulatory systems, including the blood. Each of the hundreds of proteins in the blood has a specific life span that determines its unique range of abundance. In fact, measurements of their quantities and activities contribute to many clinical diagnoses.

20 Oct 2015

Glycan binding proteins modify parasite infection in cells of the heart muscle

Chagas disease is the main cause of infectious heart disease in Latin America. Researchers from the INGEBI and IBYME Institutes in Argentina explored the effect of glycan binding protein interactions between the human host and Typanosoma cruzi parasite. They found that a glycan binding protein expressed in humans modified the infection in cells of the heart muscle, showing the importance of galectins in the response to parasite infection.

12 Oct 2015

Soft palate plays key role in viruses' ability to spread

Flu viruses come in many strains, and some are better equipped than others to spread from person to person. Scientists have now discovered that the soft palate -- the soft tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth -- plays a key role in viruses' ability to travel through the air from one person to another.

24 Sep 2015

Agilent and BTI collaborate to address a critical need in biopharmaceutical industry

The collaboration will address a gap in analytical tests and standards applied for drugs based on glycoproteins, which now form the majority of approved biopharmaceutical drugs. Current analytical methods for characterizing glycans are time-consuming and difficult to deploy in commercial environments. They are also limited in their ability to detect and analyze minor glycan species.

15 Jul 2015

Ariana Pharma joins the GastricGlycoExplorer consortium

This collaboration is carried out within the GastricGlycoExplorer consortium, a European Commission funded project. The consortium aims at discovering and developing new diagnostic signatures by characterizing the sugars that are attached to the surface of gastric tissue. "Glycomics" provides a systematic approach for studying sugars that are naturally present on cell surfaces and its application may lead to determine early markers of gastric cancer.

2 Jun 2015

Abnormal attachment of sugar to BACE1 enzyme leads to formation of Aβ plaques in the brain

Researchers at the RIKEN-Max Planck Joint Research Center in Japan have demonstrated that hallmark symptoms of Alzheimer's disease can be reduced when sugars are prevented from binding to one of the key enzymes implicated in the disease. The new findings, reported in EMBO Molecular Medicine, show that abnormal attachment of a particular sugar to the enzyme BACE1 is a critical factor leading to the formation of Aβ plaques in the brain, and that plaques were reduced and cognitive performance improved when this action was prevented in mice through loss of the enzyme GnT-III.

17 Jan 2015

High speed, high resolution glycan mapping now achievable for mAb characterization

The full characterization of biotherapeutics is required by regulatory authorities as properties such as safety, efficacy and the serum half-life of therapeutic proteins can be affected by differences in their glycosylation pattern. Recombinant monoclonal antibody therapeutics (mAbs) represent the largest group of therapeutic proteins the analysis of the glycan pattern is therefore an essential part of the mAb characterization process.

19 Dec 2014

Research findings provide clues for design of future HIV vaccine

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have described how a single family of antibodies that broadly neutralizes different strains of HIV has evolved remarkably diverse structures to attack a vulnerable site on the virus.

26 Sep 2014

Secret of aging skin may lie in glycan and micronutrient creams

For decades, dermatologists have been researching the genetic cause of aging skin so that the perfect antidote could be developed. When examining genes and proteins, a difference between younger and older looking skin has not been found.

7 Aug 2014

Study led by TSRI scientists likely to influence future designs for HIV vaccines, antibody-based therapies

A vaccine or other therapy directed at a single site on a surface protein of HIV could in principle neutralize nearly all strains of the virus—thanks to the diversity of targets the site presents to the human immune system.

16 May 2014

Scripps Research Institute scientists show AIDS vaccine could work against changeable site on HIV

A vaccine or other therapy directed at a single site on a surface protein of HIV could in principle neutralize nearly all strains of the virus-thanks to the diversity of targets the site presents to the human immune system.

15 May 2014

Carbohydrate-binding proteins fill in gaps in immune defenses

Our bodies produce a family of proteins that recognize and kill bacteria whose carbohydrate coatings resemble those of our own cells too closely, scientists have discovered.

13 May 2014

TSRI scientists discover new HIV target

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) working with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has discovered a new vulnerable site on the HIV virus. The newly identified site can be attacked by human antibodies in a way that neutralizes the infectivity of a wide variety of HIV strains.

25 Apr 2014

Researchers discover new marker derived from human umbilical cord blood

The development of stem cell therapies to cure a variety of diseases depends on the ability to characterize stem cell populations based on cell surface markers.

18 Apr 2014

Sugars attached to proteins can be used to detect ovarian cancer, say researchers

The hunt is on to find biomarkers that detect cancer, but it's a challenging process. Early successes often are followed by heartbreaking failures. But now, researchers at UC Davis have verified that glycans (sugars attached to proteins) can be used to detect ovarian cancer. The study was published online in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

11 Mar 2014

Bruker launches new, improved customer-driven products at Pittcon 2014

At Pittcon 2014, Bruker today announced new product introductions and enhancements for improved performance and customer experience in research, industrial and applied markets.

4 Mar 2014