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Chemical glycobiology: why now?

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Understanding the structure and function of carbohydrates remains a key challenge for chemical biologists. Developments in carbohydrate synthesis and analysis together with the advent of high-throughput methods such as carbohydrate microarrays have helped shed light on the function of glycoconjugates. Similarly, consortia have provided technology platforms and focus to a burgeoning field. Now, recruitment of scientists from related fields and further integration of chemistry and biology to achieve technical goals are needed for rapid advancements.

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Figure 1: Carbohydrate complexity is a result of branching and the stereochemistry of the glycosidic linkage.
Figure 2: Strategies for carbohydrate synthesis.
Figure 3

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomolecular Systems, Peter H. Seeberger is at the Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany, and Freie Universität Berlin Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Berlin, Germany. peter.seeberger@mpikg.mpg.de,

    Peter H Seeberger

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  1. Peter H Seeberger
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Competing interests

P.H.S. is a board member and major shareholder at Ancora Pharmaceuticals, a company he cofounded in 2003.

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Seeberger, P. Chemical glycobiology: why now?. Nat Chem Biol 5, 368–372 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio0609-368

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