Alimentary Glycoscience Research Cluster (AGRC)

About Us

Glycoscience is an interdisciplinary field of research focused on understanding the structures and roles of sugar chains attached to proteins and lipids in biological systems. Every living cell is coated with complex sugars (glycans) and glycan-binding proteins (lectins). Interactions between glycans and lectins on adjacent cells are involved in many essential biological processes including cell differentiation, immunity, reproduction, signaling and diseases such as cancer, inflammation, microbial infections. Also, a large proportion of naturally occurring proteins that are secreted or are part of the extracellular matrix are glycosylated.