Expediting glycosaminoglycan synthesis: expanding frontiers for carbohydrate chemical biology

This UKRI Fellowship renewal will continue to support my development of new scientific expertise at Keele University which interfaces chemistry and biology. The overarching goal of the research is to establish efficient technologies to provide biologically important carbohydrates. Such biomolecules are positioned to modulate or mediate a huge variety of biological processes and as a result there is a sustained interest from the scientific community around the synthesis of carbohydrate structures.

I will harness flow biocatalysis to enable controlled and reproducible production of the building blocks essential to carbohydrate biosynthesis, sugar nucleotides. Secondly, I seek to expand the frontier of glycoconjugate chemical biology through exploration of a novel prodrug approach, combining sugar nucleotide donors and nucleoside analogues.

In undertaking this research, I will adopt a multidisciplinary approach consisting of a fusion between traditional organic chemistry, biocatalysis, the evolving field of synthesis automation, and the innovative field of chemoenzymatic synthesis. This combination will facilitate the development of a faster and greener approach to explore biologically relevant carbohydrates.

This is a rapidly evolving worldwide field which is currently underrepresented in UK science. The important materials provided by the technology and knowledge developed during this Fellowship renewal will be used to probe underpinning carbohydrate biology connected to disease and aid in the design and development of new therapeutic strategies.