Annual Meeting

Carbohydrates for life, health and diseases

A Discover BMB symposium: Frontiers in Carbohydrate Synthesis and Recognition
Catherine Grimes Xi Chen
By Catherine Grimes and Xi Chen
Sept. 27, 2022

What molecules determine human ABO blood groups? What do influenza viruses grab when they infect a human? What define the serotypes of bacterial species? What are the most diverse protein post-translational modifications? The answer to all of these questions is “carbohydrates.”

Indeed, carbohydrates are indispensable biomolecules and components that are essential for life. They are key recognition components of many biological and pathological events. Synthesizing glycans and understanding the roles of carbohydrates used to be daunting tasks but, thanks to recent progress, have become easier.

The exciting talks in our symposium at Discover BMB, the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which will be held in March in Seattle, will present recent advances made on several fronts: glycan synthesis, tools developed, chemical biology, and the roles and the applications of carbohydrates in health and diseases.

The topics include human and bacterial glycans, biocatalysis, chemoenzymatic synthesis, glycomics, glycoproteomics, anti-glycan antibodies and the roles and applications in learning, memory and treatment of adult diseases.

We aim to engage aficionados as well as those interested in learning more about how to implement these approaches in their own research.  

Keywords: Biocatalysis, carbohydrates, glycans, glycoscience, synthesis, recognition.

Who should attend: Anyone interested in the recent advances in the synthesis, roles and applications of glycans and glycoconjugates.

Theme song: “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles.

This session is powered by a sugar rush.

Speakers

Synthesis of glycans for exploring their role in health and disease
Xi Chen (chair), University of California, Davis
Catherine L. GrimesUniversity of Delaware
Rita Gerardy–SchahnHannover Medical School
Steven D. TownsendVanderbilt University
Jerry TroutmanUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte

Chemical glycobiology and tools for glycoscience
Catherine Grimes (chair), University of Delaware
Mireille KamarizaHarvard University
Jeff GildersleeveNational Cancer Institute
Lingjun LiUniversity of Wisconsin
Tania LupoliNew York University

Carbohydrate biocatalysts and glycan-binding probes/materials
Catherine Grimes (chair), University of Delaware
Xi ChenUniversity of California, Davis
Barbara ImperialiMassachuetts Institute of Technology
Kelley MoremenUniversity of Georgia
Vered Padler–KaravaniTel Aviv University

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.

Learn more
Catherine Grimes
Catherine Grimes

Catherine Grimes is an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Delaware.

Xi Chen
Xi Chen

Xi Chen is a professor at the University of California, Davis.

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in Science

Science highlights or most popular articles

RA patient blood reveals joint innerworkings
Journal News

RA patient blood reveals joint innerworkings

July 25, 2025

Researchers in the Netherlands use mass spectrometry to compare the proteome of plasma and synovial fluid in rheumatoid arthritis patients and find a correlation. Read more about this recent paper in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.

Hope for a cure hangs on research
Essay

Hope for a cure hangs on research

July 17, 2025

Amid drastic proposed cuts to biomedical research, rare disease families like Hailey Adkisson’s fight for survival and hope. Without funding, science can’t “catch up” to help the patients who need it most.

Before we’ve lost what we can’t rebuild: Hope for prion disease
Feature

Before we’ve lost what we can’t rebuild: Hope for prion disease

July 15, 2025

Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel, a husband-and-wife team racing to cure prion disease, helped develop ION717, an antisense oligonucleotide treatment now in clinical trials. Their mission is personal — and just getting started.

Defeating deletions and duplications
News

Defeating deletions and duplications

July 11, 2025

Promising therapeutics for chromosome 15 rare neurodevelopmental disorders, including Angelman syndrome, Dup15q syndrome and Prader–Willi syndrome.

Using 'nature’s mistakes' as a window into Lafora disease
Feature

Using 'nature’s mistakes' as a window into Lafora disease

July 10, 2025

After years of heartbreak, Lafora disease families are fueling glycogen storage research breakthroughs, helping develop therapies that may treat not only Lafora but other related neurological disorders.

Cracking cancer’s code through functional connections
News

Cracking cancer’s code through functional connections

July 2, 2025

A machine learning–derived protein cofunction network is transforming how scientists understand and uncover relationships between proteins in cancer.