Introducing a novel glycomics core service­—48Hour Discovery

By Chardelle Prevatt 

GlycoNet, in partnership with the Alberta Glycomics Centre (AGC) and the Derda Research Group at the University of Alberta, has launched its latest core service—48Hour Discovery. This accelerated service is designed to help academia and industry in molecular discovery in the areas of therapeutics, diagnostics, and probe development.

“We bring expertise in molecular biology, informatics and biochemistry,” said GlycoNet and AGC investigator Dr. Ratmir Derda. “These are areas that are largely under-employed in Edmonton.”

“Our scientists will strive to provide discovery in as few as 48 hours, for as little as cost recovery,” Derda explained. “It’s fast, cheap, and royalty free.”

The new core service allows clients to mail in a protein solution for analysis. Forty-eight hours later, scientists provide a molecular breakdown of the protein as well as a prediction of its affinity and cross-reactivity with other targets. In addition, the 48-Hour Discovery service offers risk management, expert analysis, and long-term partnership with the Network’s academic and industrial collaborators.

Derda added, “We hope that this technology will attract clients from academia, research, and industry to generate more translatable impact in the future.”

About GlycoNet
The Canadian Glycomics Network (GlycoNet) is a pan-Canadian, multidisciplinary research network aiming to deliver solutions to important health issues and improve the quality of life of Canadians through the study of glycomics. GlycoNet is funded by the Networks of Centres of Excellence, a Government of Canada program that supports large-scale, academic-led research networks to build research capacity and accelerate the creation of new knowledge in a specific research area.

About Alberta Glycomics Centre
The Alberta Glycomics Centre (formerly known as Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Carbohydrate Science, AICCS) comprises a team of highly motivated individuals whose research interests span a multidisciplinary array of biological processes and technologies specific to carbohydrate research. The fields of chemistry, biology, medicine, and engineering are dynamically integrated as experts in areas such as carbohydrate synthesis, protein-carbohydrate interactions, glycoengineering, drug discovery, vaccine development, mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallography work together to explore carbohydrate science. Currently, as part of the Glycomics Centre, a combination of 10 principal investigators (PIs) and associate PIs conduct their research.

About Derda Research Group
The Derda Research Group focuses on genetically-encoded chemistry, genetically-encoded discovery of reactions, protein-ligand interactions, and instructive biomaterials. The Group is part of the Department of Chemistry and the Alberta Glycomics Centre at the University of Alberta.

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For more information, please contact:
Chardelle Prevatt
Communications Associate
Canadian Glycomics Network (GlycoNet)
780.492.4355 / cprevatt@glyconet.ca