Canada Excellence Research Chair in Glycomics

细胞表面的碳水化合物（或聚糖）在从癌症到微生物感染的人类疾病中起着关键作用。利用聚糖在人体健康中的作用为药物开发和个性化医疗提供了新的机会。15年来，Lara K. Mahal博士一直站在创建和使用基于系统的方法来解码聚糖在人类健康中的作用的最前沿。她的实验室发明了一项关键技术——凝集素微阵列，这一技术彻底改变了糖组学领域。她的实验室还发现，微rna是糖聚糖表达的主要调节因子，可能是基因组学和糖组学之间的“缺失环节”。她目前和正在进行的研究兴趣包括：1。揭示聚糖在癌症进展中的作用。2. 了解聚糖在微生物疾病中的作用以及对细菌和病毒感染的免疫反应。3. 研究miRNA在控制细胞聚糖表达中的作用。

Carbohydrates (or glycans) on the surface of cells are critical players in human diseases ranging from cancer to microbial infections. Exploting the roles of glycans in human health provides new opportunities for drug development and personalized medicine. For 15 years Dr. Lara K. Mahal has been at the forefront of creating and using systems-based approaches to decode the role of glycans in human health. Her laboratory invented a key technology – lectin microarrays – that has revolutionized the field of glycomics. Her laboratory also discovered that microRNAs are major regulators of glycan expression and may be the ‘missing link’ between genomics and glycomics. Her current and ongoing research interests include: 1. Unraveling the role of glycans in cancer progression. 2. Understanding the role of glycans in microbial dieases and the immune response against bacterial and viral infections. 3. Studying the role of miRNA in controlling the expression of glycans in cells.