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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/E000614/1
Title: Creating a Synthetic Platform for Understanding and Exploiting Glycoconjugates
Principal Investigator: Davis, Professor B
Other Investigators:
Gilbert, Professor H Davies, Professor GJ
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Oxford Chemistry
Organisation: University of Oxford
Scheme: Platform Grants
Starts: 15 January 2007 Ends: 14 January 2012 Value (£): 645,911
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Carbohydrate Chemistry Chemical Biology
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The evidence for the importance of carbohydrates in biology is increasing exponentially. Unlike other biomolecules (lipids, proteins, nucleosides) significant expertise is needed in the construction of corresponding glycoconjugate probes used to understand and exploit this biology: for example, no automated oligosaccharide synthesizer to date exists for the construction of all the glycoside linkages. The possible permutations for something as simple as the hexasaccharide structures stretch to greater than 1.05 x 1012 possible combinations. This level of complexity highlights that synthesis of glycoconjugates must be guided by functional design, and cannot simply be achieved through random synthesis of all possible combinations. There are a number of startling and challenging high-risk problems that exist in the field of glycoscience that the Platform would allow us to tackle. The risk is high, the challenges of complexity great (due, in part, to the typical lack of direct genetic control of glycoconjugate synthesis within biology) but the potential rewards are tremendous.
Key Findings
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Summary
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Project URL:  
Further Information:  
Organisation Website: http://www.ox.ac.uk