GlycoFrontiers: Pushing boundaries through interdisciplinary innovations/ GlycoFrontiers : Repousser les limites grâce à des innovations interdisciplinaires
Seminar organized by Rebekka Wild from 29 September to 4 October 2025.
Participants
Rebekka WILD (Institut de biologie structurale, UMR 5075, University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA – Grenoble, France), Marissa MACIEJ-HULME (Oslo Metropolitan University – OSLO, Suède), Julien FERENT (Centre de Neuroscience de Sorbonne Université – NeuroSU – Paris, France), Elisa MIGLIORINI (Biosanté – Grenoble, France), Julia SANTIAGO (University of Lausanne – Lausanne, Suisse), Catherine BUI (INRIA – Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France), Christelle BRETON (Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolécules Végétales -CERMAV – Grenoble, France), Ugo CENCI (Université de Lille – Lille, France), Rabia SADIR (Institut de biologie structurale – Grenoble, France), Romain VIVÈS (Institut de biologie structurale – Grenoble, France), Hugues LORTAT-JACOB (CNRS – Institut de biologie structurale – Grenoble, France), Anne IMBERTY (CERMAV-CNRS – Gieres, France), Serge PEREZ (Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolécules Végétales -CERMAV – Gières, France), Yu OGAWA (MPI of Colloids and Interfaces – Potsdam, Allemagne), David GOYARD (Département de chimie moléculaire – Gières, France), Margaux MOLINAS (Institut de biologie structurale – Grenoble, France), Rosa LORIZOLLA CORDEIRO (Institut de biologie structurale – Grenoble, France), Sarah LE HIR (Institut de biologie structurale – Grenoble, France), Pascal THEROND (CNRS, Université de Nice Côte d’Azur- Nice, France)
Résumé
Ce séminaire a réuni vingt scientifiques, dont deux jeunes chercheurs, issus de différents domaines des glycosciences. Tous les participants partageaient un vif intérêt pour les glycanes et possédaient une solide expérience interdisciplinaire, incluant la biochimie, la biologie structurale, la biophysique, la chimie de synthèse, la biologie computationnelle et la biologie moléculaire. Les participants ont utilisé différents types d’organismes modèles, notamment des plantes, des souris et des mouches, pour étudier la fonction des glycanes dans les processus biologiques. L’accent a été mis sur la compréhension du rôle des glycanes dans plusieurs maladies humaines. Le séminaire visait à identifier les principales questions en suspens en glycosciences, à explorer les méthodologies émergentes pour les aborder et à favoriser la recherche collaborative. Le programme a notamment mis l’accent sur le développement de nouvelles collaborations interdisciplinaires, l’identification de sujets pour de futurs projets communs et l’élaboration d’une feuille de route pour les demandes de subventions de recherche collaborative.
Summary
This seminar brought together twenty scientists, including two junior researchers, from different fields of glycosciences. All participants shared a strong interest in glycans, and at the same time had a highly interdisciplinary background, including biochemistry, structural biology, biophysics, synthetic chemistry, computational biology, and molecular biology. Participants use different types of model organisms, including plants, mice and flies, to study the function of glycans in biological processes. A central focus laid in understanding the role of glycans in several human diseases. The seminar aimed to identify the key outstanding questions in glycosciences, explore emerging methodologies to address them, and to foster collaborative research. A special emphasis of the program was placed on developing new interdisciplinary collaborations, identifying topics for future shared projects, and drafting a roadmap to apply for collaborative research grants.
Report
During the meeting, each participant presented his/her research, which focused on different aspects of glycans. Glycans are highly complex macromolecules composed of diverse sugar units. They are found on the surface of cells and in the extracellular matrix, where they have a broad range of functions. These include mediating cell-cell communication, regulating the growth, adhesion, and stability of cells, modulating signaling pathways, and playing critical roles in the immune system. Despite the major advances in understanding DNA and protein structures over the past decades, characterizing glycan structure and function remains a big challenge. Tools to sequence complex polysaccharides are missing, their structural complexity makes them difficult targets for chemical synthesis, and their functional diversity means they are involved in nearly all cellular processes. This highlights the need for interdisciplinary approaches that combine synthetic chemistry, molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology, and computational modeling.
Over the course of the seminar, presentations addressed different classes of glycans, including N-linked glycans, in which glycans are attached to asparagine residues within core proteins, O-linked glycans, attached via serine residues, and plant polysaccharides such as pectins and starch. Among the participants, there was strong representation of researchers studying glycosaminoglycans, a specialized class of glycans. Glycosaminoglycans are one of the most structurally complex glycans in nature. They are present on most human cells but remain poorly understood. While it is known that glycosaminoglycans interact with many cellular factors, understanding the specificity of these interactions remains a significant challenge. Discussions throughout the week often focused on strategies to study the precise interactions between a given glycan and its protein partners.
Synthetic chemistry plays a key role in these studies by providing defined short oligosaccharides, which can be used in biochemical and cellular experiments to identify potential interaction partners. Genetic approaches in model organisms such as mice, plants, and flies help elucidate the biological roles of glycans in processes such as neurodevelopment, tissue formation, organogenesis, and plant reproduction. Molecular biology, biochemistry, and structural biology studies showcased advances in our understanding of the biosynthesis of glycans, including the identification and functional characterization of the enzymes and protein complexes responsible for their assembly. These biosynthetic proteins act as highly specialized molecular machines, and defects in these machineries are associated with a number of rare diseases. Gaining a detailed understanding of these processes is therefore crucial for developing future diagnostic tools and potential therapeutic strategies.
Throughout the seminar, participants highlighted the complementary strengths of different approaches. For example, structural biology allows visualization of glycan-protein complexes at atomic resolution, while computational modeling can predict interactions and guide experimental design. Biochemical assays validate these predictions, and studies in living organisms provide functional context. The integration of these methods enables researchers to move from isolated observations toward a systems-level understanding of glycans in biological processes.
In addition to scientific presentations, the seminar fostered extensive discussions about collaborative research. Participants shared ideas for new projects that combine their expertise, such as designing synthetic glycans for probing specific protein interactions, or developing genetically engineered models to study glycan function in development and disease. These discussions emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary networks in tackling the complexity of glycosciences, highlighting how different approaches can complement each other to overcome current limitations in the field.
In summary, the seminar successfully brought together researchers from multiple disciplines to address fundamental and translational questions in glycosciences. It provided an opportunity to share current findings, discuss methodological advances, and identify collaborative opportunities for future research. The meeting emphasized the importance of combining chemical, biological, and computational approaches to advance understanding of glycan structure-function relationships, particularly in relation to human health and rare diseases. By connecting scientists with complementary expertise, the seminar laid the groundwork for new projects and partnerships that will advance both basic research and translational applications in the field.
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
ldiebold (28 octobre 2025). GlycoFrontiers: Pushing boundaries through interdisciplinary innovations/ GlycoFrontiers : Repousser les limites grâce à des innovations interdisciplinaires. Les carnets de la Fondation des Treilles. Consulté le 14 novembre 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/151zn

