Sussex Research Laboratories Inc. (Sussex Research), a globally recognized leader in Empowering Therapeutic Innovation Through Glycoscience, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a strategic commercialization collaboration with GlycoNet-supported startup 48Hour Discovery Inc. (Edmonton, AB) to develop Liquid Molecular Array technology for glycomics research & development. Based on 48Hour Discovery’s Liquid Glycan Array (LiGA) technology, Sussex Research will develop and provide broad access to phage-based tools across academia and industry for drug discovery and development applications.
The genetically encoded, multivalent Liquid Glycan Array (LiGA) platform represents a major technological advance over traditional, static glass-slide glycan arrays, providing a dynamic, DNA-encoded, true liquid environment-based system. LiGA is a glycan display technology designed to enable high-throughput, multiplex profiling of protein–glycan interactions.
LiGA combines 48Hour Discovery’s phage display technology with Sussex Research’s glycan ligands, advanced glycan and glycoconjugate synthesis capabilities, and extensive linker chemistries. Each LiGA component carries a defined glycan structure presented in multiple copies on the phage surface and is paired with a unique DNA barcode, allowing researchers to combine many glycans into a single assay and then decode binding events by DNA sequencing. The platform was developed in the lab of Professor Dr. Ratmir Derda at the University of Alberta with key contributions from Drs. Guilherme Meira Lima, Mirat Sojitra, Chuanhao Peng and multiple collaborators including Dr. Corwin Nycholat, Chief Scientific Officer at Sussex Research. The technology and full list of contributors is published in Nature Chemical Biology 2021, 7, 806-816.