Abstract

Glycosaminoglycans (GAG) are sulfated polysaccharides that regulate numerous pathophysiological processes in all living species.  They are found in the form of proteoglycans and carry enormous structural information in terms of sulfation, epimerization, domain organization, chain length, number of chains and type of chains along with their core proteins.  Production of proteoglycans with such high complexity occurs in template-independent fashion seamlessly, yet our understanding of their biosynthesis, structures and functions is somewhat incomplete and imperfect.  My lab is currently interested in developing a number of chemical biology tools to define the biosynthetic pathways of glycosaminoglycans such as heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate and dermatan sulfate and to decipher structure-function relations with a final goal of harnessing biomedical applications of GAG chains to treat a number of human diseases.