Biological cell membranes are decorated with glycans, which are known to interact with proteins such as lectins and galectins. The functional pairing between glycans on membranes and lectins are relevant to many biological events, including signaling and immune response. Recently we developed synthetic nanoscale vesicles known as glycodendrimersomes (GDSs), self-assembled by Janus glycodendrimers. These biomimetic vesicles can be programmed with glycan density, charge, structural and topological complexity, and are employed to dissect design aspects of glycan presentation, with specificity for lectin-mediated cross-linking. Agglutination of GDSs reveal the extent of cross-linking of these biomimetic vesicles with disease-related galectins, and offer the possibility of unraveling the nature of these fundamental sugar-receptor interactions.

Glycoconjugates as cell membrane mimics and galectin functions

256th National Meeting (2018)

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