# Protein-Glycan Interaction Resource at the National Center for Functional Glycomics (NCFG)

> **NIH NIH R24** · BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $1,210,400

## Abstract

Abstract/Summary
This R24 application for an NIGMS National and Regional Resource is to enable researchers in the under-
served area of glycosciences and whose research needs glycoscience expertise, to have continued and
improved access to state-of-the-art technologies to advance biomedical research and human health involving
protein-glycan interactions and glycan recognition. Glycosylation is the most common and varied post-
translational modification (PTM) in all living things, and each cell and organism generates unique PTMs and
also glycolipids. Such resources proposed here are neither available to individual laboratories, nor are these
specific technologies available commercially. With a base of ~7,000 users (83.6% new users) and hundreds of
laboratories utilizing NCFG databases and resources, respectively, related to functional glycomics, our
resource is obviously well used and represents a unique resource democratically accessible to all biomedical
researchers. The increasing demand is evidenced by the nearly 10,000 individual, different glycan microarrays
used at the NCFG resource center in just the last 4 years. Our emphasis on protein-glycan interactions is
timely because research continues to uncover clues that these interactions are key to understanding the
expression and functions of glycans in biological systems and their recognition by antibodies, glycan-binding
proteins (GBPs) and lectins, in human and animal systems, and by microbial pathogens and gut microbiome.
Our resource makes available an incredible variety of glycan microarray technologies, glycan libraries, and
multiple databases not available elsewhere. The success of our resource has resulted in over a hundred
publications by users in the past 5 years. Because of its success and rapidly increasing number of requests,
and because we are the only resource of this kind available in the glycosciences, we propose three Specific
Aims to continue making these invaluable resources accessible. Aim 1- We will continue to generate and
improve defined glycan, glycopeptide, glycoprotein, and glycolipid microarrays, along with Luminex-based
glycan-bead technologies, all unique to the resource. Aim 2- We will make available and further improve
natural bifunctional fluorescent-tags (BFTs) originally pioneered by the NCFG, and will be utilized in glycan
microarray and bead conjugations. Such novel BFTs, pioneered by the NCFG, give us advanced capabilities
to label glycans in complex mixtures, purify them, and then quantify and quantitatively print microarrays at
varying densities. Aim 3- We will continue to use BFT technology to produce and improve natural glycan
microarrays from many sources of cells, tissues, and glycoconjugates, comprising a unique and valuable tool
for the resource center. Thus, our Protein-Glycan Interaction Resource provides unique capabilities in glycan-
binding expertise and technologies, teaching opportunities, and a wide range of services and outreach to an
em...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10023486
- **Project number:** 1R24GM137763-01
- **Recipient organization:** BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** RICHARD D CUMMINGS
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,210,400
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10023486

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10023486, Protein-Glycan Interaction Resource at the National Center for Functional Glycomics (NCFG) (1R24GM137763-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10023486. Licensed CC0.

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