Glycans News and Research

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UCSB scientists publish groundbreaking study results of Type 2 diabetes

While legions of medical researchers have been looking to understand the genetic basis of disease and how mutations may affect human health, a group of biomedical researchers at UC Santa Barbara is studying the metabolism of cells and their surrounding tissue, to ferret out ways in which certain diseases begin.

7 Jan 2013

Human milk oligosaccharides may reduce risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission

An international team of researchers has found that certain bioactive components found in human milk are associated with a reduced risk of HIV transmission from an HIV infected mother to her breast-fed infant. Their study will be published in the August 15 online edition of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

16 Aug 2012

Study investigates ability of bifidobacteria to remove glycans from milk glycoproteins

A research team at the University of California, Davis, has found that important and resourceful bacteria in the baby microbiome can ferret out nourishment from a previously unknown source, possibly helping at-risk infants break down components of breast milk.

15 Aug 2012

Powerful new tools can study glycans’ function

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed chemical compounds that can make key modifications to common sugar molecules ("glycans"), which are found on the surface of all cells in our body. The new study presents powerful new tools for studying these molecules' function, for example in cell signaling and immunity, and for investigating new treatments for chronic inflammation, autoimmune diseases, cancer metastasis, and related conditions.

11 Jun 2012

Differentiated luminal-like breast cancer cells can generate larger tumors

New findings in breast cancer research by an international team of scientists contradict the prevailing belief that only basal-like cells with stem cell qualities can form invasive tumors. Research led by Ole William Petersen at the University of Copenhagen (CU) and Mina Bissell of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and has shown that luminal-like cells with no detectable stem cell qualities can generate larger tumors than their basal-like counterparts.

19 Apr 2012

Rotavirus infects certain blood types

Whether you become infected by some strains of rotavirus may depend on your blood type.

16 Apr 2012

New method uses E. coli bacteria to engineer human therapeutic glycoproteins

Escherichia coli - a bacteria considered the food safety bane of restaurateurs, grocers and consumers - is a friend. Cornell University biomolecular engineers have learned to use E. coli to produce sugar-modified proteins for making pharmaceuticals cheaper and faster.

27 Mar 2012

Proteomics: Thermo Fisher Scientific and PREMIER Biosoft to co-market SimGlycan software

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, and PREMIER Biosoft, have announced an agreement to co-market PREMIER Biosoft’s SimGlycan® software. The agreement aims to advance glycobiology by dramatically speeding the characterization of complex glycans through automated interpretation of the rich data produced by Thermo Scientific mass spectrometer systems.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 8 Jan 2012

Insight into how powerful anti-HIV antibody grabs hold of the virus

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered the surprising details of how a powerful anti-HIV antibody grabs hold of the virus. The findings, published in Science Express on October 13, 2011, highlight a major vulnerability of HIV and suggest a new target for vaccine development.

14 Oct 2011

Bruker releases new amaZon speed ion trap mass spectrometers

At the HUPO 10th Annual World Congress in Geneva, Switzerland, and at the JAIMA Conference in Tokyo, Japan, Bruker this week announces the release of its new high-performance amaZon speed and amaZon speed ETD ion trap mass spectrometers (ITMS) to meet the increasing demands of the proteomics, research and applied markets.

6 Sep 2011

LYSOGENE launches the first gene therapy clinical trials in Sanfilippo disease

LYSOGENE announces the authorization by AFSSAPS (the French Agency for the Safety of Health Products) and by the Ethical Review Board of SAF-301, its leading intra-cerebral gene therapy phase I/II clinical trial aiming at treating Sanfilippo Type A Syndrome.

16 Aug 2011

UC San Diego receives NHLBI 'Program of Excellence in Glycosciences' grant

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have received a major 7-year, $18 million grant to begin translating emerging discoveries in the field of glycosciences into new discoveries and therapies related to heart, lung and blood diseases.

26 Jul 2011

Scientists find way to make copper-catalyzed click chemistry biocompatible

Biomolecular imaging can reveal a great deal of information about the inner workings of cells and one of the most attractive targets for imaging are glycans - sugars that are ubiquitous to living organisms and abundant on cell surfaces. Imaging a glycan requires that it be tagged or labeled. One of the best techniques for doing this is a technique called click chemistry.

19 Jul 2011

Zacharon, Pfizer enter research collaboration to develop drugs for orphan diseases

Zacharon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the company has entered into a strategic research collaboration with Pfizer Inc. to develop drugs for orphan diseases, including lysosomal storage disorders. The potential value of the collaboration to Zacharon is approximately USD $210 million. The collaboration includes the potential development of compounds that may be discovered using Zacharon's innovative platform for developing small molecule drugs targeting specific carbohydrate polymers or glycans.

7 Apr 2011

European Patent Office grants ProtAffin key patent for CellJammer discovery technology

ProtAffin AG, a biotechnology company developing novel biopharmaceuticals for respiratory disease, inflammation and oncology, today announced that it has been granted a key patent by the European Patent Office protecting its CellJammer® discovery technology, which enables the development of a new class of biopharmaceuticals.

14 Mar 2011

Study sheds new light on riboswitch that turns genes on or off in response to cell's energy needs

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on a molecular switch that turns genes on or off in response to a cell's energy needs.

13 Feb 2011

New way to stabilize proteins

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a new way to stabilize proteins — the workhorse biological macromolecules found in all organisms. Proteins serve as the functional basis of many types of biologic drugs used to treat everything from arthritis, anemia, and diabetes to cancer.

4 Feb 2011

Virdante Pharmaceuticals receives US key patent for Sialic Switch technology

Virdante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted a key patent that supports the Company's "Sialic Switch" technology for improving the anti-inflammatory activity of antibody-based drugs to treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.

7 Jan 2011

Researchers adapt gene chip microarray technology to study glycans

Sugar molecules coat every cell in our bodies and play critical roles in development and disease, yet the components of these "glycans" have been difficult for scientists to study, because of their complexity.

6 Dec 2010

Mouse study finds blocking GnT-V enzyme delays breast cancer growth

New University of Georgia research, published this week in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has found that blocking the action of an enzyme called GnT-V significantly delays the onset and spread of tumors in mice with cancer very similar to many cases of human breast cancer.

19 Nov 2010