Welcome to GlycoScientific
We are developing tools to enable research in glycobiology, an emerging field of research focused on the identification, characterization, and quantitation of sugars, saccharides, and/ or glycans. These molecules are essential components to all living things and play important functions in various biological events such as cell-cell recognition, signal transduction, tumorigenesis, and epigenetics. Alterations to these glycans are important medically since they are often associated with diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and autoimmune disorders.
Epigenetics and O-GlcNAc proteins
There is a growing body of evidence that directly links O-GlcNAc to the Histone Code, which makes a compelling case that O-GlcNAcylation plays a pivotal role in epigenetics. Despite its biological importance, the analysis of O-GlcNAc-modified proteins remains highly challenging. Unlike phosphorylation for which a wide range of antibodies are available, studies of O-GlcNAc modification are hampered by a lack of effective tools for its detection, quantification and site localization. According to the National Academy of Sciences the lack of new analytical tools to study O-GlcNAc is the greatest impediment to understanding the roles of O-GlcNAcylation in cellular physiology and disease and advance the field.
High affinity site-specific O-GlcNAc antibodies, to date, have eluded production using the traditional approaches to generate antibodies (Abs). This difficulty may result from O-GlcNAc modified epitopes being self-antigens, thus, tolerated by the immune system, and combined with the relatively weak carbohydrates-protein interaction that complicates antibody maturation.
GlycoScientific has developed a novel immunization strategy to overcome these issues.
At GlycoScientific we develop site-specific antibodies that can be used as tools in the elucidation of the role that O-GlcNAc plays in epigenetics and in chronic human disease including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer.
Isotopically Labeled IgGs-Glycoproteins (UmAb)
GlycoScientific has patented process to produce glycoproteins whose glycans are isotopically labeled (iGlycan). These are ideal for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of glycoprotein glycans, and can be applied to individual glycans or complex mixtures such as including that performed in the field of glycomics.
Advantages of iGlycan:
- No alteration to mass spectrometry (MS) based workflows.
- Enhanced accuracy and precision.
- Comparable results from researchers in geographically different places.
- Absolute quantitation of glycans attached to glycoprotein.
We also produce a human monoclonal IgG1 labeled with 15N4 and 13C6 labeled Arginine and 15N2 and 13C6 labeled Lysine developed for use as an internal standard for the quantitation of monoclonal antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins.
Visit the Need for Better Glycan Identification Standards page for an overview of the challenges facing the industry.
Purchase an Isotopically Labeled Quantification Standard