Webinar Series
GlycoNet/ACS Joint Webinars:
April, 2021
May, 2021 (TBA)
June, 2021 (TBA)
Past GlycoNet Webinars
GlycoNet offers webinars on diverse topics ranging from scientific research to professional development, technical workshops, and focused seminars for the science community. In September 2020, GlycoNet has joined forces with the Carbohydrate Chemistry Division of American Chemical Society to host webinars featuring renowned researchers across North America and Europe. In addition to Q&A period, each event is followed by an informal “networking session” at the end of the presentations, giving the audience opportunities to learn more about the presenters and their research.
Upcoming Webinars
S4E15: April 21, 11 am – 12:30 pm MT | Register here
Catherine Grimes
Professor, University of Delaware
Peptidoglycan and you, perfect together?
Catherine Leimkuhler Grimes obtained a BS in Chemistry in 2001 from Villanova University. She obtained her masters in 2003 from Princeton University and PhD from Harvard University in 2006. Her graduate work was conducted under the guidance of Professor Dan Kahne, which focused on synthesizing glycopeptides to combat antibiotic resistance. From 2006 to 2011, Catherine was a HHMI and Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Erin O’Shea (Harvard University, Molecular and Cellular Biology) and Daniel Podolosky (Massachusetts General Hospital).
Catherine joined the University of Delaware’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Department as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2011. She was appointed a joint faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences in 2012 and promoted to Professor in September 2019. Her research program focuses on the development and chemical synthesis of small molecule carbohydrate probes that mimic intermediates of bacterial cell wall biosynthesis and bacterial-host immune recognition.
Abhishek Bhattacherjee
Post-doctoral researcher (Macauley Lab), University of Alberta
Role of CD33 isoforms in Alzheimer’s Disease Susceptibility
Abhishek completed his PhD from university of Calcutta, India in biophysics, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. During his doctoral studies, he worked on different aspects of protein glycation and nano-therapeutics in context to diabetic mellitus. His interdisciplinary research area focused on biochemistry, biophysics and drug development. After completion of his doctoral work, he joined University of Alberta (Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences), as post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Mirko Betti. During his postdoctoral work, he worked on different aspects of glycol-biology, biochemistry and microbiology in correlation with functional product development. He did his second post-doctoral study with Dr. Matthew Macauley (Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta) on neuro-degenerative disease and specially focusing on the role of siglec in Alzheimer’s disease. At the moment he is working as research associate in Macauley Lab and leading the project where he tries to explore the role of CD33 protein in Alzheimer’s disease.
Alisdair Boraston
Associate Professor, University of Victoria
O-glycopeptidases: the complex substrate recognition determinants of peptidases with a sweet tooth
Alisdair B. Boraston received his BSc. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1993. He obtained his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology under the supervision of Professors Doug Kilburn and Tony Warrren at UBC in 2000 then, after a brief post-doctoral research appointment in the UBC Biotechnology Laboratory, he spent 1.5 years in England training as an NSERC-funded Post-Doctoral Fellow in the York Structural Biology Laboratory, University of York, UK, under the supervision of Professor Gideon Davies. In 2003, he began a position in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at The University of Victoria as an Assistant Professor and was ultimately promoted to Professor in 2014. Group research interest is in structural glycobiology and its application to the analysis of protein-carbohydrate interactions in enzymes that modify carbohydrates or proteins that non-catalytically bind them. One major area of investigation is molecular pathogenesis whereby the roles of bacterial proteins in recognizing and/or modifying host glycans during infection are examined. A second key topic of study is the enzymatic breakdown of marine and terrestrial plant cell walls by microbes and how the unique building blocks of these polymerized sugars are funneled through novel metabolic pathways. Recognitions include an EWR Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2012) and he held the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Molecular Interactions (2003-2013).
Adam Kositzke
Graduate Student (Jiang Lab), University of Wisconsin-Madison
Elucidating the substrate binding mode of O-GlcNAc transferase toward O-GlcNAcase using electrophilic probes
Adam Kositzke earned his BS in biology and chemistry from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where he elucidated the X-ray crystal structure of a bacterial glycoside hydrolase under the guidance of Dr. Christopher Bianchetti. Following that, Adam joined the lab of Dr. Jiaoyang Jiang at the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2016, where he characterized the substrate recognition of the human O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) toward its protein substrate, O-GlcNAcase (OGA), and developed an in-house galactosyltransferase assay to detect recombinant and cellular protein O-GlcNAcylation.
Stay tuned for more speakers in May! Follow us on social media to get our latest announcements:
| 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 |
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 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 4 (January – April 2021)
Canadian Glycomics Network
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Fax: 780-492-4147
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