Yoshiki Narimatsu

Sugars cover surfaces of all living cells and these glycans are essential for many of the biological processes required for human life and our relationship with the microbial world. Glycans, much like DNA and proteins, contain information that needs to be decoded. Information in glycans is “read” by glycan-binding proteins and these direct biological signals and functions. The simple way we currently understand how proteins read glycans does not provide a plausible explanation for the great diversity of functions assigned to glycans. I therefore propose that glycans are read in more complex ways. I have developed a novel technology that enables analysis of such complex glycan motif, and recently I obtained the first experimental evidence to support my hypothesis. In this project, I will therefore explore how complex glycan motifs modulate our immune system and how bacteria and virus gain entry and cause pathologies through glycans. The project has wide biomedical perspectives.