You can find a brief description of each member's research interests
by searching for their name, topic, or keyword.

The cell surface is heavily coated with carbohydrates. The structure of those cell surface carbohydrates displays a dramatic change during development, and mature cells express cell surface carbohydrates specific to different organs and tissues. Cell surface carbohydrates thus serve as a zip code for different organs and tissues. Cancer cells very often display distinct carbohydrates that are present only in very low abundance on normal mature cells. Those carbohydrates are thought to play critical roles in tumor metastasis and escaping from immune cell attack. Sialyl Lewis X represents such an oligosaccharide. After discovery of sialyl Lewis X in neutrophils by Dr. Minoru Fukuda, a large number of studies demonstrated that sialyl Lewis X plays a role in leukocyte trafficking and tumor metastasis. With colleagues from Japan, Dr. Fukuda also discovered that certain carbohydrates function as antibiotics against Helicobacter pylori infection, which is a leading cause for peptic ulcer and gastric carcinoma. The knowledge will be useful in developing carbohydrate-based therapy for the treatment of inflammation and tumor metastasis.

Track(s):
Molecular Pathology


BMS Focus Areas:
Glycobiology
Cancer Biology