GLYCOPHARM OVERVIEW

Coding of bioinformation in glycans and information transfer via lectins, i.e. the Sugar Code, is key to a wealth of medically relevant processes, as for example infection, immune regulation and malignancy, now awaiting its full exploitation pharmaceutically.

GLYCOPHARM is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network devised to offer training to young researchers in the interdisciplinary field of glycosciences. The network is composed of fourteen research groups specialised in chemistry, bioinformatics, biophysics, structural biology, molecular and cell biology, biomedicine and biotechnology, including private companies devoted to the development and commercialisation of innovative procedures in the field of molecular diagnostics.

GLYCOPHARM OBJECTIVES

GLYCOPHARM aims to provide international, intersectoral and multidisciplinary training in an extensive range of skills critical for the drug design and development process, covering the way from bioinformatics to biomedicine. The overall goal of the training programme is to provide young researchers with broad scientific, entrepreneurial and transferable competences for optimizing their career perspectives.

The research programme is aimed at the development of innovative therapeutic agents and strategies, new diagnostic/prognostic tests and new methodologies, e.g., for drug screening. GLYCOPHARM focuses on a family of endogenous lectins, the galectins, which play key roles in many clinically relevant processes, including cancer and the immune and inflammatory processes. 

GLYCOPHARM IMPACT

• GLYCOPHARM will contribute to the development of a new generation of researchers, shaped according to modern society needs and able to associate research competences with the skills required for exploitation of their expertise in both academia and industry.

• GLYCOPHARM will serve as prototype project to foster the innovative field of glycopharmacy, bringing together public and private sectors on a Europe-wide level.

• GLYCOPHARM will facilitate the development of pioneering strategies for fighting common diseases, with main focus on cancer.