# Methods for crosslinking glycan-protein interactions in cell membrane

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2023 · $321,157

## Abstract

RESEARCH SUMMARY
Glycans and proteins interact on the cell membrane affecting the general characteristics and behavior of the
cell. The nature of glycan-protein interactions is of fundamental interests to biology, however elucidating this
interaction in live cells has been strictly limited. Crosslinking technology has advanced and has been used to
understand the fundamental of protein-protein interactions. These methods employ many new crosslinking
reagents and have further been aided by the significant progress in rapid throughput proteomic methods.
While most membrane proteins are glycosylated, glycan-protein crosslinking experiments are rare and limited
by the dearth of glycan specific crosslinking reagents as well as limitations in glycomic and glycoproteomic
analytical methods. This research will develop glycan-protein crosslinking reagents for use in live cells. It
further takes advantage of bioorthogonal reagents that allows the incorporation of modified monosaccharides
into the cell's metabolic pathway producing chemically modified glycans in cell membrane. The incorporation
and efficiencies of the syntheses and crosslinking reactions are monitored by new glycomic and glycoproteomic
analytical methods. The modified glycans are used to tether crosslinking reagents that react with target
proteins. The method identifies the glycopeptide as well as the crosslink target protein providing
unprecedented views of the role of glycans in protein-protein interactions.
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## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10625260
- **Project number:** 5R01GM049077-28
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** CARLITO B LEBRILLA
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $321,157
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1993-05-01 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10625260

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10625260, Methods for crosslinking glycan-protein interactions in cell membrane (5R01GM049077-28). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10625260. Licensed CC0.

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