The Glycosciences Laboratory

The MRC Glycosciences Laboratory includes the Glycobiology Group headed by Professor Feizi and the Mass Spectrometry Group headed by Professor Lawson. The main focus is to discover the ligands for carbohydrate-binding receptors, which have important roles in molecular mechanisms of inflammation and host defence. These include the selectins, the collectins and lectin-like receptors on antigen presenting cells. A recent advance has been the design of a microarray technology to facilitate the study of carbohydrate-protein interactions, and intended to encompass entire glycomes i.e. the carbohydrate repertoires of whole organisms.