# Methods for Isotope Labelling of Glycans

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO · 2023 · $191,573

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY. Glycomics studies are crucial for correlating changes in glycan structure and abundance
to the phenotype of a biological system. Among the available platforms to facilitate glycomics analyses, labelling
with stable isotopes has been implemented to decipher structural and quantitative aspects of carbohydrates in
healthy and diseased states. Isotopically labelled saccharides are also a useful tool for in vivo metabolic profiling
and in mechanistic studies in chemistry and enzymology. While some structures are commercially available, a
generally applicable and non-destructive method for introducing stable heavy isotopes either in simple
monosaccharides or complex oligosaccharides are not available. To overcome these limitations, we will develop
a chemical technology based on carbon-13 labelling. To achieve this objective, we will pursue two specific aims:
In Aim 1, we will optimize catalytic methods for selective labelling of monosaccharides with carbon-13. This
method will selectively exchange the anomeric position with a heavy isotope from readily available sources of
carbon-13. In Aim 2, we will apply isotope labelling method to three classes of saccharides of biomedical
relevance, namely heparan sulfate proteoglycans, N-linked glycoproteins, and human milk oligosaccharides. Per
requirements of PAR-19-254, we will benchmark the new technologies against the current state-of-the-art
methods for oligosaccharide quantification. Upon completion of this project, a new catalytic technology for
labelling of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates will be available and will complement the current tools for
quantitative glycomics. In a broader sense, integration of these novel chemistries with modern mass
spectrometry techniques will provide better tools for therapeutic diagnosis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10684319
- **Project number:** 5R21GM147834-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
- **Principal Investigator:** Maciej Walczak
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $191,573
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10684319

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10684319, Methods for Isotope Labelling of Glycans (5R21GM147834-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10684319. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*