A one-stop global destination focused on developing carbohydrate-based drugs, vaccines and diagnostics to address areas of unmet need through glycomics research.
GlycoNet is underpinned by world-leading glycomics experts and deploys emerging technologies, integrates new protocols, and creates new tools to provide state-of-the-art glycomics tools to tackle important academic and industrial problems. We drive innovations that will ultimately provide “Made-in-Canada” solutions to critical challenges in healthcare, agriculture and environmental sustainability.
Our comprehensive glycomics services include high-throughput glycan screening, glycan profiling and analysis, glycan-ligand discovery, custom carbohydrate synthesis, glycoengineering.
Our services, instruments, technologies and professional services are available to all researchers, from Canada and abroad, across academic, private, and government sectors. The facility’s scientific and technical personnel provides high-quality, high-throughput, and competitively priced products and services to all of its clients.
The economic sectors serviced by our facility extend far beyond biomedical research and biotechnology. Our unique service portfolio will also drive academic and market place innovation in agriculture, plant biotechnology, biomaterials, environment, biofuels, disease surveillance, clinical management, and many others.
- Drug and vaccine development
- Drug discovery
- Carbohydrate synthesis
- Glycan structure-function analysis
- Glycan screening
- Glycoengineering
- Agriculture, animal science and food
- Chemical industries
- Defence and security industries
- Education
- Healthcare and social services
- Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
Specialized labs and equipment
| Equipment | Function |
|---|---|
| NMR 700 MHz spectrometer | Identification of interactions and confirmation among molecules. |
| NMR 600 MHz spectrometer with upgrades for solid state capabilities | Analysis of glycan contents within the whole bacterial cell. |
| NMR 500 MHz spectrometer with upgrades for cryoprobe | |
| MALDI-TOF-TOF tandem mass spectrometer | Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time Of Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. Analysis of glycoproteins. |
| TOF LC-MS system | Time-of-Flight Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry system. Analysis of compounds and observations of changes. |
| Waters Synapt G2 mass spectrometer | Determination of weak binding interactions between two compounds |
| FT-ICR mass spectrometer | Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry. Assessment of differences in mass among molecules and observations of changes, down to the atomic level, in chemical reactions. |
| Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) instrumentation | Determining affinities of small molecules to proteins. |
| Surface Plasmon Resonance system | Monitoring binding events in real time without the use of labels. |
| Inverted fluorescence microscope with photobleaching system | Study of interaction of fluorescence protein molecules in living cells and tissues. |
| Inverted fluorescence microscope with TIRF excitation | Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) Microscopy. Investigation of cell membrane and other surface processes in a direct manner. |
| Solid-phase peptide synthesizer | Synthesis of peptides by combining amino acids. |
| Carbohydrate library | More than 250 compounds. Library screening, drug discovery. |
Private and public sector research partners
- Alberta Innovates
- VaxAlta
- Scripps Research Institute
- AbbVie
- Sussex Research
- Sanofi
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Academia Sinica
- GlycoSyn
- 48Hour Discovery
Additional information
| Title | URL |
|---|---|
| Tweaking biology for health and biotech solutions: A pan-Canadian network of over 170 researchers brings together the country’s expertise in the field of glycomics to create solutions in medicine and other bio-based industries. | https://www.innovation.ca/projects-results/research-stories/tweaking-biology-health-biotech-solutio… |
| Sialic acid-containing glycolipids mediate binding and viral entry of SARS-CoV-2 | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-021-00924-1 |
| Genetically encoded multivalent liquid glycan array displayed on M13 bacteriophage | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-021-00788-5 |
| A quantitative, high-throughput method identifies protein–glycan interactions via mass spectrometry | https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-019-0507-2 |
| Mass spectrometry-based shotgun glycomics for discovery of natural ligands of glycan-binding proteins | https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c02931 |
| Characterization of ABH-subtype donor-specific antibodies in ABO-A-incompatible kidney transplantation | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajt.16712 |
| Neuraminidases 1 and 3 trigger atherosclerosis by desialylating low-density lipoproteins and increasing their uptake by macrophages | https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.120.018756 |