Synthesis and evaluation of sulfur-linked oligosaccharides for discovery of novel glycosidases

Glycosidases are an ubiquitous class of proteins (enzymes) which catalyses the hydrolysis of glycoconjugates, and are involved in many physiological processes. However, despite the tremendous potential of glycosidases for both therapeutical and industrial applications, function and structure of the vast majority of glycosidases remains to explore.

The main goal of the project is to develop and synthesize relevant molecules for the efficient screening of new glycosidases, focusing especially on the sialidases subclass. However, the study of specific glycosidases is an intrinsically challenging task, since these proteins are expressed in all living organisms. Taking advantage to our understanding of the mechanism of action of these enzymes, molecules exhibiting precise structural features (ie specific sugar moieties, sulfur atoms) will be designed and evaluated to interact with very specific families of glycosidases such as sialidases, and thus enable a functional and structural investigation of these proteins.

Faculty Supervisor:

Stephen Withers

Student:

Partner:

Université Grenoble Alpes

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: