Sweet Talk: Cracking Glycan Codes with Native Mass Spectrometry
Duong T. Bui
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry
University of Alberta
Monday, May 26, 2025
2:30 p.m.
In-person: C2-361
Abstract: Glycans - the complex carbohydrates decorating cell surfaces and proteins—play essential roles in a wide array of physiological and pathological processes, from immune recognition to cancer progression. These sugar structures are decoded by glycan-binding proteins (GBPs), whose interactions are highly specific yet often challenging to characterize. In this seminar, I will provide an overview of the “sweet” language of glycans in health and disease, highlighting how GBPs interpret glycan codes to mediate critical biological functions, particularly in viral infection and immune recognition. I will also showcase my native mass spectrometry approaches for directly detecting and quantifying protein–glycan and protein–protein interactions with high sensitivity and structural resolution. By combining functional insights with analytical innovation, native mass spectrometry is opening new doors to understanding glycan-mediated signaling and to identifying potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets.