GLYCONEER-An automated oligosaccharide synthesiser to transform glycobiology research within the University of York, and the UK glycoscience community

大分子-字面意思是大分子-蛋白质、DNA、RNA和碳水化合物在生物体内发挥着关键作用。它们共同负责维持生命的所有功能，从新陈代谢、复制到细胞与环境之间的信息交换。碳水化合物，或糖，有时被称为糖，是所有这一切的无名英雄，它们的工作方式，促进细胞之间的通信和允许全身信号传递不仅具有相当大的科学兴趣，而且对于基本了解有机体如何工作或实际上无法工作，在生物技术行业通过将糖用作食品加工和制药行业的新药开发中的核心，英国在所有这些领域都处于世界领先地位。碳水化合物也是地球上最大的生物质来源，开发碳水化合物在生物材料、能源、食品和健康方面的新应用，对于摆脱对碳氢化合物的依赖，发展可持续生物技术和减少温室气体排放，确保能源和粮食安全，将是至关重要的。糖科学是一个宽泛的术语，用于所有涉及碳水化合物的研究和技术，从细胞生物学、人类营养和医学到碳水化合物材料和碳水化合物到能量的转换。因此，碳水化合物的分析、合成和生物合成及其对工业产品的修饰是工业生物技术和生物能源领域的核心挑战。在过去的二十年里，糖科学发生了许多根本性的变化，在碳水化合物的合成和修饰、酶学和糖链分析方面产生了技术上的推动。与此同时，在不同的领域有巨大的需求和机会，如生物制药(全球最畅销的10种药物中有8种是糖蛋白)、食品(为人类肠道微生物区系设计的益生素)、抗菌剂(针对细胞表面识别和生物合成)、材料(从可再生的多糖中提取)或能源(消化无法消化的物质)。然而，在这一广泛领域的研究仍然从根本上受到复杂碳水化合物合成的限制，复杂碳水化合物可以以多种形式存在，并以多种方式连接在一起，具有几乎不可想象的局限性。虽然对DNA和蛋白质功能的研究受到了广泛使用合成器的刺激，合成器实际上可以由用户编程来产生任何DNA或蛋白质序列，几乎不需要任何技术技能，但碳水化合物由于其复杂性而被甩在了后面。新的技术进步意味着，现在存在一种商业上可用的碳水化合物合成器，它能够刺激糖科学领域，其程度与过去20年来DNA和蛋白质合成器在各自研究领域的能力相同。有了这一新的发展，碳水化合物很快将不再被称为生命中被遗忘的“灰姑娘”分子。

Macromolecules - literally big molecules - the proteins, DNA, RNA and carbohydrates - carry out the key roles in living organisms. Together they are responsible for all of the functions that sustain life, from metabolism through replication to the exchange of information between a cell and its environment. Carbohydrates, or sugars as they are sometimes known are the unsung heroes in all of this and the way they work, facilitating cell-cell communication and allow signalling throughout the body is not only of considerable scientific interest but is central in attaining a basic understanding of how an organism works or indeed fails to work, in the biotechnology industry through the use of sugars as additives in food processing and in development of new drugs in the pharmaceutical industry, all areas where the UK is a world leader. Carbohydrates also constitute the largest source of biomass on Earth and their exploitation for novel applications in biomaterials, energy, food and health will be critical in moving away from dependence on hydrocarbons to develop sustainable biotechnologies and reduce GHG emissions, ensuring both energy and food security. Glycoscience is a broad term used for all research and technology involving carbohydrates, ranging from cell biology, human nutrition and medicine to carbohydrate-based materials and the conversion of carbohydrates to energy. The analysis, synthesis and biosynthesis of carbohydrates and their modification to industrial products are, therefore, central challenges in both industrial biotechnology and bioenergy. The last twenty years have seen a number of fundamental changes in the Glycosciences generating a technology push with respect to carbohydrate synthesis and modification, enzymology and glycomic analysis. At the same time, there is a technology pull - great demand and opportunities in diverse areas such as biopharmaceuticals (8 out of 10 top selling drugs worldwide are glycoproteins), foods (prebiotics designed for the human gut microbiota), antimicrobials (targeting cell surface recognition and biosynthesis), materials (from biorenewable polysaccharides) or energy (digesting the indigestible). However, research in this broad area is still fundamentally limited by the synthesis of complex carbohydrates, which can exist in multiple forms, and be linked together as 'polymers' in many ways with an almost unimaginable lack of limitations. While research into DNA and protein function has been stimulated by widespread access to synthesisers, machines that can literally be programmed by a user to produce any sequence of DNA or protein with almost no technical skills necessary, carbohydrates have been left behind because of their complexity. New technology advances mean that a commercially available carbohydrate synthesiser now exists with the capability to stimulate the glycoscience field to the same extent that synthesisers of DNA and proteins have in their own research fields in the last twenty years. With this new development, soon carbohydrates will no longer be known as the forgotten 'Cinderella' molecules of life.