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Webinar Series

GlycoNet offers webinars on diverse topics ranging from scientific research to professional development, technical workshops, and focused seminars for the science community. We encourage speakers and attendees to stick around after webinars for informal discussion and networking.

Upcoming Webinars

GTA Webinar featuring Dr. Jenifer Hendel (Trent University)

October 27, 11 AM MT

Expanding Access to Carbohydrates: N-Glycan Isolation and Synthetic Approaches to Glycomimetics

Dr. Hendel’s research group focuses on two research streams: the scalable isolation of N-glycans from natural sources and the development of synthetic methodologies to access glycomimetics. The first stream aims to improve access to well-characterized glycans, which are essential for biopharmaceutical development and investigating changes in glycosylation associated with disease. Drawing on my experience in the biotechnology industry, we are developing practical and scalable methods for isolating complex N-glycans to improve their availability as standards and starting materials for semi-synthesis. Our second research stream focuses on developing synthetic methodologies to access glycomimetics containing non-natural structural modifications, with the aim of generating molecular probes for investigating interactions with glycan-binding proteins. This presentation will highlight recent progress and challenges in both research areas.

Past GlycoNet Webinars

2026 Webinars

No. overall	Speakers & titles
66	Dr. Jean-Philippe Julien, University of Toronto Protein and glycan engineering for next-generation malaria vaccines
65	Dr. Mariela Segura, University of Montreal Glycoscience for One Health: From Bacterial Capsules to Better Vaccines
64	Dr. Landon Edgar, University of Toronto The Glycocalyx as a Nexus of Control Over Human T Cell Immunophysiology
63	Dr. Charles Gauthier, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) Total Synthesis of Burkholderia-Inspired Glycans: From Vaccines to Biosurfactants
62	Dr. David Vocadlo, Simon Fraser University Chemical biology tools for probing and perturbing carbohydrate processing enzymes in mammalian systemss
61	Dr. Eric Brown, McMaster University Starving Bacteria to Find New Antibodies
60	Dr. Darrell Mousseau, University of Saskatchewan The brain organoid: a window into the donor's brain
59	Dr. Duong Bui, University of Alberta Cracking the Glycan Code with Native Mass Spectrometry

2025 Webinars

No. overall	Speakers & titles
50	Dr. Warren Wakarchuk, University of Alberta Custom Glycomics Solutions with GlycoNet Integrated Services
51	Dr. Sicheng Lin, University of Alberta & Dr. François Le Mauff, Research Institute of the McGill University Healthcare Centre Glycomics Analysis & Synthesis with GlycoNet Integrated Services
52	Dr. Lisa Willis, University of Alberta Polysialic acid is associated with T cell activation and controls migration
53	Dr. David Vocadlo, Simon Fraser University Live cell imaging substrates for quantifying glycoside hydrolase activities within cells
54	Dr. Matthew Macauley & Dr. Edward Schmidt, University of Alberta New tools to study glycan ligands of Siglecs
55	Dr. Kelly McNagny, University of British Columbia Innate Lymphoid cells as Sculptors of Long Term Immune Response and Drivers of Chronic Inflammation
56	Dr. Stephen Withers, University of British Columbia Recent developments in the discovery and engineering of bacterial glycoside hydrolases using high-throughput approaches
57	Dr. Anna Blakney, University of British Columbia Next generation RNA vaccines & therapies
58	Dr. Yves St-Pierre, Institut national de la recherche scientifique Molecular and Cellular Biology Facility (MCBF): Integrated Platforms for Nanobody, Cellular, and Omics Research

2022 Webinars

No. overall	Speakers & titles
49	Dr. Harry Brumer, University of British Columbia Adventures in the human gut microbiota: Characterization and applications of complex carbohydrate utilization systems Dr. Simon Wisnovsky, University of British Columbia Revealing functional ligands for glycan-binding immune receptors with genome-wide CRISPR screening

Season 4 (January – June 2021)

No. overall	No. in season	Speakers & titles
28	1	Dr. Geert-Jan Boons, Professor, University of Georgia Probing receptor and co-receptor specificities of coronaviruses using chemo-enzymatic synthesis and glycoarray technology Dr. Hien Nguyen, Professor, Wayne State University Discovery of sulfated glycopolymers as potent inhibitors of heparanase and SARS-CoV-2
29	2	Dr. Jennifer Kohler, Associate Professor, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Intestinal fucose, in sickness and in health Catherine Alex, Graduate Student, University of Missouri-St. Louis Methodologies for stereocontrolled mannosylation with acidic and/or aminosugars
30	3	Dr. Jia Niu, Assistant Professor, Boston College A general approach to early-stage O-sulfation of carbohydrates and peptides Erum Razvi, Graduate Student, SickKids Hostpial Identifying the role of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PelA hydrolase in Pel polysaccharide biosynthesis
31	4	Dr. Chantelle Capicciotti, Assistant Professor, Queen's University Glycan remodelling with chemical tools to probe glycan-protein interactions Jiayi Li, Graduate Student, Wayne State University Phenanthroline-catalyzed glycosylation: expansion of substrate scope and investigation of mechanism
32	5	Dr. John Hanover, Chief, Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology, NIDDK at National Institutes of Health O-GlcNAc and Disease Matthew Deen, Graduate Student, Simon Fraser University A light in the darkness: GBA1-FQ6 a new tool for studying glucocerebrosidase a Parkinson’s disease associated glycoside hydrolase
33	6	Dr. Sabine Flitsch, Professor, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology Synthetic and analytical tools for glycobiology Shaochi Wang, Graduate Student, University of Maryland Development of colorimetric and fluorometric oligosaccharide probes enabling high-throughput screening for glycosyl hydrolase enzymes
34	7	Dr. Charlie Fehl, Assistant Professor, Wayne State University Real-time chemical tools for dynamic O-GlcNAc glycoprotein functions Dr. Adam Forman, Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Toronto Development of substrates to characterize PgaB, a hydrolase involved in the synthesis of the biofilm exopolysaccharide dPNAG
35	8	Dr. Kelly McNagny, Professor, University of British Columbia CD34-type sialomucins: general regulators of cell adhesion and migration and targets for cancer immunotherapy Dr. Jicheng Zhang, Post-doctoral Researcher, Wayne State University Trisaccharides with specific sulfation sequences in modulating heparanase activity
36	9	Dr. Kamil Godula, Associate Professor, University of California San Diego Functional polymeric glycomaterials for regulating stem cell differentiation Kristina Klobucar, Graduate Student, McMaster University A chemical screen for vancomycin antagonism uncovers probes of the Gram-negative outer membrane
37	10	Dr. Christoph Rademacher, Professor, University of Vienna Application of glycomimetics for the development of topical vaccines Jonathan Quirke, Graduate Student, University of Georgia Glycosidase and glycosyltransferase transition state stabilization through substrate side chain restriction
38	11	Dr. Nicola Pohl, Professor, Indiana University Bloomington How to Make Glycan Synthesis FAIR (* Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable)* Hanna Ostapska, Graduate Student, McGill University Exopolysaccharides in co-operative biofilm formation by A. fumigatus and P. aeruginosa
39	12	Dr. Wade Abbott, Research Scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Glyco-enabling tools for study of microbial glycan metabolism in agriculture Daniel Ramirez, Graduate Student, Harvard University Engineering a proximity-directed OGT to control O-GlcNAc signaling
40	13	Dr. Ben Swarts, Associate Professor, Central Michigan University Commandeering mycobacterial carbohydrate metabolism for applications in tuberculosis research Emily Rodrigues, Graduate Student, University of Alberta Leveraging avidity of Siglec-ligand interactions with a versatile soluble Siglec scaffold
41	14	Dr. Lori West, Professor, University of Alberta Bringing 21st century tools for ABO antibody detection into the clinical laboratory Courtney Kondor, Graduate Student, Wayne State University Development of photo-controlled sugar labeling reagents to track disease processes
42	15	Dr. Catherine Grimes, Professor, University of Delaware Peptidoglycan and you, perfect together? Dr. Abhishek Bhatatcherjee, Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Alberta Role of CD33 isoforms in Alzheimer’s Disease susceptibility
43	16	Dr. Alisdair Boraston, Professor, University of Victoria O-glycopeptidases: the complex substrate recognition determinants of peptidases with a sweet tooth Adam Kositzke, Graduate Student, University of Wisconsin-Madison Elucidating the substrate binding mode of O-GlcNAc transferase toward O-GlcNAcase using electrophilic probes
44	17	Dr. Tianning Diao, Associate Professor, New York University Photoredox C-glycosylation of glycosyl esters Dr. Nikki Salmond, Post-doctoral Researcher, University of British Columbia Extracellular vesicle-associated glycans for the diagnosis and prognostication of breast cancer
45	18	Dr. Samy Cecioni, Assistant Professor, University of Montreal Chemical strategies for live cell quantitative imaging of glycoside hydrolase activity Dr. Yun Ge, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Harvard University Target protein deglycosylation in living cells by a nanobody-fused split O-GlcNAcase
46	19	Dr. Sander van Kasteren, Associate Professor, University of Leiden Carbohydrate-Lectin Interactions – A love/hate story Sarah Zaytsoff, Graduate Student, University of Alberta and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada The role of the intestinal microbiota and mucus in disease resistance to necrotic enteritis in chickens
47	20	Dr. Lisa Willis, Assistant Professor, University of Alberta Glycoengineering polysialic acid: insights into sex differences in human polysialic acid Nichole Pedowitz, Graduate Student, University of Southern California MYPT1 O-GlcNAcylation regulates sphingosine-1-phosphate mediated fibroblast contraction
48	21	Dr. Jiaoyang Jiang, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison How can one regulate so many? Structural features of O-GlcNAcase in substrate recognition Revathi Reddy, Graduate Student, University of Alberta The ABCs of profiling ABO antibodies using Liquid Glycan Array

Season 3 (September – December 2020)

No. overall	No. in season	Speakers & titles
21	1	Dr. Lara Mahal, Professor, University of Alberta Exploring the roles of glycosylation in infection and immunity Dr. Peter Rahfeld, Research Associate, University of British Columbia From gut to blood: how to make universal donor blood
22	2	Dr. Mary Cloninger, Professor, Montana State University Lactose-functionalized dendrimers and dendritic polyglycerols for binding to galectin-3 Dr. Pumtiwitt McCarthy, Associate Professor, Morgan State University Bacterial capsule polymerases as tools to improve human health
23	3	Dr. Warren Wakarchuk, Professor, University of Alberta Protein engineering of 21st century drugs through the application of synthetic biology Dr. Landon Edgar, Post-doctoral fellow, Scripps Research Invigorating T cells through carbohydrate editing
24	4	Dr. Theresa M. Reineke, Professor, University of Minnesota Glycopolymers promote in vivo and ex vivo delivery of functional nucleic acids Dr. Jodi Hadden-Perilla, Assistant Professor, University of Delaware The fuzzy boundaries of carbohydrate binding sites
25	5	Dr. Mark Nitz, Professor, University of Toronto Exploring a low affinity probe for the biofilm-associated poly-N-acetylglycosamine exopolysaccharide Dr. Sandra Irmisch, Research Associate, University of British Columbia A novel anti-diabetic compound from plants: biosynthesis, gene discovery, and metabolic engineering of montbretin A
26	6	Dr. Mingdi Yan, Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell Carbohydrate-conjugated fluorescence turn-on azide probes for imaging cells and bacteria Dr. Jessica Kramer, Assistant Professor, University of Utah Synthetic mucins: from new chemical routes to engineered cells
27	7	Dr. David Vocadlo, Professor, Simon Fraser University Fluorescence-quenched substrates for monitoring glycoside hydrolase activities in mammalian cells Dr. Simonetta Sipione, Professor, University of Alberta Gangliosides in neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation

Season 2 (July – August 2020)

No. overall	No. in season	Speakers & titles
13	1	Dr. Parastoo Azadi, Executive Director, Analytical Services, Complex Carbohydrate Research Centre Glycobiology of SARS-CoV2 and its implications for vaccine development Dr. Supriya Dey, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard University Programmable one-pot synthesis of heparin and heparin-related anticoagulants
14	2	Dr. Robert Ben, Professor, University of Ottawa Improving the efficacy of modern cellular therapies Dr. François Le Mauff, Post-Doctoral Fellow, McGill University Structural and biochemical characterization of the exopolysaccharide deacetylase Agd3 required for aspergillus fumigatus biofilm formation
15	3	Dr. David Pamer, Professor, University of Saskatchewan Writing an effective grant proposal
16	4	Dr. David Kwan, Assistant Professor, Concordia University A set of chemical biology tools to probe and inhibit cellular glycosyltransferases Shermaine Sy, B.Sc, University of Alberta Development of a bead-based assay for ABO antibody detection: creating a new tool for the clinical laboratory
17	5	Drs. Kate Pratt and Jonathon Simmons, Academic Success Centre, University of Alberta A workshop for scientific writers
18	6	Dr. Chris Phenix, Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan Chemical tools for studying glucosidase activity in complex biological samples F. Ifthiha Mohideen, Graduate Student, Concordia University An engineered in vitro enzymatic pathway for the anticancer anthracycline deoxysugars: TDP-L-acosamine and TDP-L-daunosamine
19	7	Dr. Rebecca Davis, Associate Professor, University of Manitoba Computational approaches for designing small molecule inhibitors
20	8	Dr. Robert Britton, Professor, Simon Fraser University De novo synthesis of nucleoside analogues for medicinal chemistry purposes Dr. Kristen Low, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Bioprospecting CAZymes from intestinal microbiomes for the tailored degradation of non-starch dietary polysaccharides

Season 1 (April – June 2020)

No. overall	No. in season	Speakers & titles
1	1	Dr. Christopher Cairo, Associate Professor, University of Alberta Inhibitors of human neuraminidase enzymes as probes in glycobiology Mirat Sojitra, Graduate Student, University of Alberta Genetically encoded multivalent liquid glycan array (LiGA)
2	2	Dr. Andrew Lees, Founder and Scientific Director, Fina Biosolutions Simplifying conjugation: ready to conjugate CRM197 carrier protein
3	3	Dr. Robert Woods, Professor, University of Georgia 3D models of glycosylated SARS-CoV-2 protein suggest challenges for vaccine development Dr. Jolene Garber, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia Okanagan Campylobacter jejuni chemotaxis and metabolism of fucose
4	4	Dr. Lori Yang, CEO & CSO, Lectenz Bio Lectenz and GlycoSense: novel tools for glycan detection and analysis
5	5	Dr. Matt Macauley, Assistant Professor, University of Alberta Modulation of microglia by the glycan-binding protein CD33 Carla Eymard, Graduate Students, Institut de recherches cliniques de Montreal From free radical chemistry to novel classes of bioactive modified furanosides
6	6	Dr. Anne Krook, Practical Workplace Advice A guide to non-academic job search
7	7	Dr. Karla Williams, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia Polysialic acid as a prognostic marker in breast cancer Sadia Rahmani, Graduate Student, Ryerson University O-GlcNAc modification affects clathrin-coated pit assembly and efficiency at the plasma membrane
8	8	Panel Discussion ft. Drs. David Vocadlo, Stephanie White, and Kaley Wilson What I wish I knew: a chat with researchers, patent experts and entrepreneurs
9	9	Dr. Lynne Howell, Professor, The Hospital for Sick Children Exopolysaccharide biosynthesis Dr. Ryan Sweeney, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Alberta Development of an active site titration reagent for amylases
10	10	Andrew MacIsaac, CEO, Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation Navigating commercial development with API
11	11	Dr. Molly Shoichet, Professor, University of Toronto Polysaccharide hydrogels enable local drug and cell delivery Akay Akohwarien, Research Technician, University of Saskatchewan Designing novel chemical tools to study β-glucocerebrosidase: a relevant biomarker and therapeutic target in Parkinson's Disease
12	12	Sabrina Sassi, TEDx Speaker Leveraging TED to spread your research ideas: how and why researchers are doing it