IQS Hosts the 13th Annual Carbohydrate Meeting

From 27 to 29 March, IQS hosted the 13th Annual Spanish Carbohydrate Meeting organized by the Specialized Carbohydrate Group with the Spanish Royal Chemistry Society (RSEQ). Dr Antoni Planas and Dr Xevi Biarnés took the lead in both the organizing and scientific committees on behalf of IQS in developing and preparing the event.

The meeting brought together members of the carbohydrates community who presented recent advances in research, exchanged scientific viewpoints, and strengthened collaborations.

Several presentations took place over the three days that covered a wide array of current research in basic and applied glyco-science.

Plenary conferences

• Synthetic glyco-tools for exploring and exploiting the glycome, led by Carmen Galán – School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK
• Glycobiology of host-microbe interactions in the gut, led by Nathalie Juge – Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK
• A bitter-sweet symphony in Immunity: glycans as key immune-checkpoints at the frontiers of inflammation, autoimmunity and cancer, led by Salomé Pinho – Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, Portugal

Guest conferences

• Molecular recognition of glycans by lectins: new tools and important features, led by Ana Arda – CICbioGUNE, Derio, Spain
• New NMR methods for studying complex N-glycans and glycoproteins, led by Ángeles Canales – Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
• Structure-based design of glycopeptides with applications in cancer therapy and diagnosis, led by Francisco Corzana – Universidad de La Rioja, Spain
• Mechanisms of glycosyltransferases: different strategies to achieve glycosylation, led by Ramon Hurtado – Institute of Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems, University of Zaragoza, Spain / Copenhagen Center for Glycomics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Essential glycosylation pathways in Plasmodium falciparum, led by Luis Izquierdo – Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clínic—University of Barcelona, Spain / CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Barcelona, Spain
• Broadening the glycomimetic landscape: targeting glycosidases, immune receptors and lectins, led by Carmen Ortiz-Mellet – University of Seville, Spain
• Chemical Precision Tools to Explore the Surprising Biology of SARS-CoV-2 O Glycosylation, led by Benjamin Schumann – Francis Crick Institute and Imperial College London, London, UK
• Deciphering the recognition features of glycans by human lectins at the molecular level, led by María Pía Lenza – Award for the best thesis 2021, Specialized Carbohydrates Group, RSEQ; University of Naples Federico II, Napoli, Italy

The meeting also featured 13 oral presentations and two poster sessions.

The Spanish Carbohydrate Meeting brought together 70 participants who work on the interaction between chemistry and biology, and reinforced the interaction needed between glyco-chemistry, glyco-biology, and applied glyco-sciences.

This event forms part of the scientific meetings of the Spanish carbohydrate community. The Governing Board of the Specialized Carbohydrate Group of the RSEQ, formed by Antoni Planas, IQS (chair), Xevi Biarnés, IQS (secretary), Teresa Pellicer, HTBA, Barcelona (treasurer), Niels Reichardt, CICbiomaGUNE, San Sebastián (member,) and Héctor Busto, Universidad de La Rioja, Logroño (member) thanks IQS for the support in organizing the meeting at its facilities and for promoting scientific activities both in Spain and abroad.