# Forging Translational Glycobiologists: Intermeshing Glycoscience Training and Clinical Education

> **NIH NIH K12** · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · 2021 · $958,467

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Currently there are very few individuals that can place clinical medicine within the framework of glycoscience,
and vice versa. The key to bridging this translational chasm is to support the development of scientists with
requisite interdisciplinary knowledge and experience by providing training in glycosciences concomitantly with
education in human biology, altogether framed by an appreciation of human diseases and clinical urgency.
This application addresses this need by pioneering a multi-disciplinary career development program in
glycosciences within the context of clinical medicine that will create a cadre of “Translational Glycobiologists,”
individuals who will perform glycoscience-based inquiry inspired by medical necessity. Fundamentally, this
goal will be accomplished by equipping Program Scholars with the requisite intellectual background and the
necessary lab skills in the glycosciences, together with an in-depth appreciation of clinical issues. To this
end, we will build partnerships between experienced glycoscience researchers and clinicians within the
Harvard teaching hospitals to nurture Program Scholar training in glycoscience principles and technical skills
integrated with clinical knowledge and practice. The combination of Principal Investigators dedicated to this
goal (Drs. Sackstein, Chaikof, and Cummings), together with the assembled faculty and the extraordinary
hospital resources, makes this program ideal for career development in Translational Glycobiology. By
design, the program capitalizes on the long tradition of translational research within the Brigham & Women’s
Hospital, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Boston
Children’s Hospital, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as within the greater Harvard Medical
School and Harvard University. Through coursework and seminars, Program Scholars will gain glycoscience
knowledge with concomitant development of technical knowledge and skills in both primary laboratory settings
and workshops. To ensure development across both scientific and clinical spectrums, each Program Scholar
will be jointly mentored by a Research Mentor for lab-based project-oriented glycoscientific training and a
Clinical Mentor for hospital-based clinical education. In addition, each Program Scholar will have a dedicated
Career Mentor that will further support the Scholar transition towards career independence. Scholar
appointments will be for two years (maximum three years), and we anticipate a total of ten Scholars over the
duration of the funding period, with four Scholars being junior faculty clinicians and six Scholars being senior
post-doctoral fellows. We believe that this unique combination of glycoscience education, laboratory
instruction, clinical exposures, and mentoring will launch a cadre of biomedical investigators that will
accelerate the growth of glycoscience, and, more importantly, will create needed glycoscience-based
brea...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10201729
- **Project number:** 5K12HL141953-04
- **Recipient organization:** BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** RICHARD D CUMMINGS
- **Activity code:** K12 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $958,467
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10201729

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10201729, Forging Translational Glycobiologists: Intermeshing Glycoscience Training and Clinical Education (5K12HL141953-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10201729. Licensed CC0.

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