European Network on the Supramolecular Chemistry of Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are natures most abundant and versatile molecules and are involved in several diseases (e.g. diabetes, infection, andcancer metastasis) and other regular processes (e.g. fertilization, immune surveillance and inflammatory responses).

Understanding,monitoring and intervening in these processes could be exploited in medicinal therapies, glycobiology, and biomedical research ingeneral.

Such applications are predicated on the availability of carbohydrate binding molecules (CBMs) that can selectively andsupramolecularly (noncovalently) bind a plethora of carbohydrate molecules ranging from simple monosaccharides to complexoligosaccharides and glycoconjugates.

Technologies that can be developed based on CBMs include: the separation and isolation ofcarbohydrate containing molecules; making carbohydrate sensing and detection devices; enabling selective chemistry on(unprotected) carbohydrates; and a range of bio-functional applications.While the expertise to design, synthesize, study and exploit CBMs is mostly European, the research groups active in this emergingfield work independent from each other.

With this doctoral network grant, we aim to unite this expertise in the European Network forthe Supramolecular Chemistry of Carbohydrates (ENSCC).

With most of the worlds leading minds on the topic and three companiesthat are spearheading technologies in the field, our ENSCC will be a European powerhouse that will lead the academic field globallyfor years to come.

This will be achieved by sharing expertise, key-infrastructure, molecular building blocks, and most importantly bytogether training the ten PhDs that this doctoral network grant will fund.

This training by a unique network of world-leaders, expertsin the field and companies with an interest in CBMs will perfectly position our PhD students to further develop the field by continuingtheir career in academia and/or industry.