Chemical glycobiology tools for the study of nonulosonic acids and other sugars

Martin Fascione, University of York

Abstract:

“Sugars, or glycans as they are commonly known, are the most abundant biomolecules on earth and play essential roles in a myriad of biological processes. The ubiquitous nonulosonic acid sugar Neu5Ac (sialic acid) is present on the surface of all human cells and is therefore well studied, but its ‘evil twin’ pseudaminic acid (Pse), which is present on a range of pathogenic bacteria, is poorly understood in comparison. In this talk I will outline our progress towards establishing a chemical glycobiology toolkit for dissection of the bacterial ‘Pseome', using a combination of enzymatic and synthetic carbohydrate chemistry to access Pse enzyme substrates, probes and inhibitors which afford molecular level insight into nonulosonic acid processing. I will also show how these tools, alongside other approaches combining enzymology, synthesis and bioconjugation developed in our lab, may be used to probe and perturb the roles of sugars in the etiology of disease.”

Biography:

Martin received his undergraduate MChem degree (2005) and Ph.D. from the University of Leeds (2009) under the supervision of Professor W. Bruce Turnbull on the stereoselective synthesis of 1,2-cis-glycosides, where he trained in carbohydrate chemistry. Following a further postdoctoral period in Leeds with Bruce, he was then awarded a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship to study the mechanisms of carbohydrate processing enzymes with Professor Steve Withers, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada (2012-2013) and Professor Gideon Davies, at the University of York, UK (2013-2014). In late 2014 he took up a lectureship in the York Structural Biology Laboratory, within the Department of Chemistry in York where he now leads an interdisciplinary glycoscience research group. His research interests include the chemical glycobiology of nonulosonic/sialic acids, synthetic and enzymatic carbohydrate chemistry, and the bioconjugation of proteins.