4^thInternational Conference on Glycobiology and Glycochemistry May 16-17, 2018 Singapore

Glycobiology and Glycochemistry are the two main intertwined areas of Glycosciences, dealing with various aspects of glycan’s, including carbohydrate structure, biochemistry, biological functions and applications. This is necessary in order to sustain and advance the identification of key glycobiological aspects and the application of glycan’s and glyco-engineering strategies in the design of novel therapies to improve human health. The glycans (carbohydrates) form a diverse group of biomolecules which play active parts in most physiological processes. The field of structural glycobiology concerns the structures of the glycans themselves, the proteins which interact with them and the nature of the interactions between the two. Drug targeting is important for our understanding of human health and disease, and for development of new therapeutic strategies.

Genomics is the study of the genome in contrast to genetics which refers to the study of genes and their roles in inheritance. Genomics can be considered a discipline in genetics. It applies recombinant DNA, DNA sequencing methods and bioinformatics tools to sequence, assemble and analyze the function and structure of genomes with the complete set of DNA within a single cell of an organism. Advances in genomics have stimulate a transformation in discovery-based research to know even the most complex biological systems such as the brain. The field includes efforts to determine the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping.

Glycomedicine plays major role in cell-cell adhesion i.e. a method used by cells of the immune system via sugar-binding proteins called lectins, which identifies specific carbohydrate moieties. Glycan’s (carbohydrate oligomers) are the so-called “building blocks” of carbohydrates, nucleic acids, proteins and lipids play major roles in many biological phenomena as well as in various pathophysiological processes. Many scientists in other fields of research have now realized that glycosylation, i.e. the addition of glycans to a protein backbone, is the most abundant post translational modification reactions and is an important field of research and sometimes they require a glycobiology and/or glycochemistry approach to be used.

Mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomics permits the sensitive and perfect quantification of almost complete proteomes of complex biological fluids and tissues. At the moment, however, the routinely usage of MS-based proteomics is arrested and complicated by the very complex work flow comprising sample preparation, chromatography, MS measurement followed by data processing and evaluation. The new technologies and products are developed by accurate proteomics may help allow and establishing mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics in academic and pharmaceutical research as well as in clinical diagnostics.

Glycan’s are at the centre of many disorders and diseases igniting the possibility of exploiting them for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. There are many biochemical pathways and diseases in which glycan’s are intricately involved. Determining the entire capacity and the promise that glycobiology holds, many pharma and biotech companies have already started allocating their R&D budget to it. Presently, with our drug arsenal fast depleting against drug resistant and mutant pathogens, glycobiology hold an untapped source of new candidate drugs.

Glycan sequences cannot be described by a simple linear one-letter code as each duplet of monosaccharide’s can be associate in several ways and tributary structures can be formed. Few of the bioinformatics algorithms developed for genomics or proteomics can be directly adapted for glycomics. The development of algorithms, which allow a rapid, automatic interpretation of mass spectra to identify glycan structures, is currently the most active field of research. The development and use of informatics tools and databases for glycobiology and glycomics research has increased considerably in recent years. In terms of bioinformatics in glycobiology, there are various ways of research that are presently in advancement

Glycomics is a complete set of glycan’s and it identifies all the genes that encode glycoproteins.  DNA sequencing methods and bioinformatics to sequence assemble and analyse the function and structure of glycans, along with the genomes. Transcriptomics is an arrangement of transcripts in a given organism and called as an expression profiling that discover the expression level of mRNAs in a given cell population. Transcriptomics includes high-throughput techniques based on DNA microarray transcriptomics became possible with microarrays, which detect nucleic acids in a sample by hybridization. Indeed, the metabolome represents the set of all metabolites in a biological cell, tissue, organ or organism, which are the end products of cellular processes.

Glycobiology along with the field of proteomics, particularly the application of mass spectrometry analysis to protein samples, is well-established and growing rapidly. Proteomics studies along with glycan’s generate large volumes of raw experimental data and inferred biological results. To accelerate the propagation of these data, centralized data storehouse have been developed that make the data and results accessible to proteomics researchers and biologists alike. Experimental analysis of proteomics data repositories focuses exclusively on freely-available, centralized data resources that disseminate or store experimental mass spectrometry  data and results.

Glycobiology is the study of the function, biosynthesis and biology of saccharides that are broadly scattered in nature. Sugars or saccharides are essential components of all living things and aspects of the different roles they play in biology and are researched in various medical, biochemical and biotechnological fields. The study of glycan structures is also complex by the lack of a direct template for their biosynthesis, contrary to the case with proteins where their amino acid sequence is determined by their corresponding gene.

Glycochemistry is the chemistry of carbohydrates and glycosides. Glycochemistry has emerged as an internationally recognised field of study and a potentially promising route to the discovery of novel medicines. Recent trends in glycochemistry are presented in three parts: synthesis, principles, and applications. Discovering carbohydrate antigens as tumour markers or even abnormal glycation pathways in metabolic diseases such as diabetes precluded the importance of the expansion of Glycochemistry in a near future, as a way of disclosing new biomarkers and therapeutic targets in disease.

Glycoinformatics is a presently new branch of bioinformatics that deals with the study of carbohydrates. It broadly includes database, software, and algorithm development for the study of carbohydrate structures, glycoconjugates, enzymatic carbohydrate synthesis and degradation, as well as carbohydrate interactions. Primitive usage of the term does not presently include the treatment of carbohydrates from the more well-known nutritive aspect.

There are three crucial research themes being investigated by the Glycoimmunology group: carbohydrate immunochemistry and vaccine design, carbohydrate-based inhibitor synthesis, and carbohydrate immunology. Specific projects focus on immune targeting of cancer cells via the bioengineering of their surface sialic acid; the control of cancer metastasis via the manipulation and targeting of tumor outward carbohydrate; physical and immunochemical mapping of protective sialylated epitopes and carbohydrate-based disease modifying approaches for Multiple Sclerosis

A glycoside is the molecule in which a sugar group is connected through its anomeric carbon to different group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides can be classified by the glycone, by the type of glycosidic bond, and by the aglycone. Glycosides are also classified according to the chemical nature of the aglycone. For different purposes of biochemistry and pharmacology, this is the most useful classification. The first glycoside ever identified was amygdalin. The term 'glycoside' is now extended to also cover compounds with bonds formed between hemiacetal (or hemiketal) groups of sugars and several chemical groups other than hydroxyls, such as -SR i.e. thioglycosides, -SeR i.e.selenoglycosides, -NR1R2 i.e. N-glycosides, or even -CR1R2R3i.e. C- glycosides.

Carbohydrate rich molecules like including glycolipids, glycoproteins, and proteoglycans in the nervous system have important roles during development, regeneration and synaptic plasticity. The structural diversity of the carbohydrate moieties renders them ideally suited as stage-specific biomarkers for various cell types leading to mediate interactions between recognition molecules, thereby contributing to the formation of a complex molecular framework at the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix of the cell. The exceptional structural diversity of glycan chains and related moieties allows for immense advanced possibilities that can leads to cell interactions along with cell matrix interactions.

Carbohydrates are basically considered as major sources of structural materials and energy for living organisms. Recent modern research’s in this area has focused mainly on simple basic sugars and homopolysaccharides such as, starch, cellulose, glycogen, and chitin. During the last few decades, the researchers have shifted their focus on complex forms like carbohydrates, especially proteoglycans, glycolipids and glycoproteins which are collectively referred to as glycoconjugates  that shows the potential of recognition markers in the biological system which also relates to other biomedical and clinical fields.The roles of glycans and glycoconjgates in cancer have been emphasizes, because a small alterations in glycosylation can  tremendously regulate the whole pathway and mechanisms of cancer, which leads to an indication as a biomarker development leading to various therapeutics development in cancer research.