Carbohydrates mediate many processes in biology, particularly those that involve contacts between surfaces (for example cell-cell and cell-virus particle contacts). Nature overcomes the intrinsic weakness of individual carbohydrate-protein (lectin) interactions by means of multivalency, of both the carbohydrate ligand and the lectin. Thus the preparation of multivalent, high-affinity carbohydrate-bearing macromolecules, including glycopolymers, is an attractive strategy for investigating and inhibiting such interactions, leading to applications in therapeutics, diagnostics, protein purification and other areas of biotechnology. We present our work on the development of biologically active, amphiphilic glycopolymers from simple monosaccharide-containing monomers. Depending on the exact molecular characteristics of the polymers and the self-assembly process employed, the polymers can be assembled into a variety of bioactive nano- and microstructures, including micelles, nanoparticles and polymersomes. The presentation will discuss two recent projects in our lab: 1. The production of self-assembled glyconanoparticles for the delivery of antibiotics (‘glyconanobiotics’); and 2. The development of glycosylated giant polymersomes as simple minimal cell mimics.

Bioactive nano- and microstructures from self-assembling amphiphilic glycopolymers

256th National Meeting (2018)

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