Glycolipid Interactions in Melanoma Adhesion

有了这个新奖项，有机和大分子化学项目支持布朗大学化学系阿米特·巴苏教授的工作。该项目旨在更好地理解细胞界面上碳水化合物-碳水化合物的相互作用。这些相互作用负责介导各种细胞间粘附和识别事件。细胞表面糖脂的组成与胚胎细胞的特定发育阶段密切相关，是肿瘤发生和转移的分子标志物。这些糖脂与细胞表面碳水化合物的相互作用在细胞发育和粘附过程中起着信号传导和调节作用。虽然参与识别过程的特定碳水化合物的结构已经被阐明，但对细胞-细胞相互作用发生的关键结构特征知之甚少。该项目将开发模型系统，以系统的方式检测和探测碳水化合物-碳水化合物相互作用。这些相互作用的微观细节将通过在碳水化合物的选定位置引入化学修饰来研究，以增加它们的结合能力。此外，突变糖调节细胞膜化学的能力将被评估。这个项目将使我们更清楚地了解细胞粘附，这是一种基本的生物学现象，涉及各种具有重大社会影响的科学领域，如传染病、癌症、生物恐怖主义和胚胎发育。该计划涉及化学和生物学界面的本科生和研究生的多学科培训。

With this new award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports the work of Professor Amit Basu, of the Chemistry Department at Brown University. This project is designed to achieve better understanding of carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions at cell interfaces. These interactions are responsible for mediating various intercellular adhesion and recognition events. The composition of glycolipids at the cell surface, which is strongly correlated with specific developmental stages of embryonic cells, serves as a molecular marker of carcinogenesis and metastasis. Interactions of these glycolipids with carbohydrates on cell surfaces serve signaling and regulatory functions during cell development and adhesion. Although the structures of the specific carbohydrates that are involved in the recognition process have been elucidated, very little is known about key structural features that are critical for cell-cell interactions to occur. This project will develop model systems for detecting and probing carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions in a systematic fashion. The microscopic details of these interactions will be studied by introducing chemical modifications at selected positions on the carbohydrates in order to increase their binding ability. In addition, the ability of the mutant sugars to modulate cell membrane chemistry will be evaluated.This project will lead to a clearer picture of cell adhesion, which is a fundamental biological phenomenon involved in various scientific fields with significant societal impact such as infectious disease, cancer, bioterrorism, and embryonic development. The program involves multidisciplinary training for undergraduate and graduate students at the interface of chemistry and biology.