The Role of Glycosylation in Health and Disease (eBook)

Glycobiology is an emerging field of studying glycans (sugars) and glycoconjugates that are essentially involved in almost all biological processes, from fine-tuning glycoprotein function to protein-protein interactions, signaling, immune response, host-pathogen interactions, etc. However, due to structural complexity of glycans and analytical challenges this exciting field was lagging behind other areas of biology. With technological advancements growing number of glycans' functions are being discovered and the study of glycans is becoming a cutting-edge discipline in basic and clinical research.

Gordan Lauc is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry and founder and CEO of Genos Ltd. He was born in Osijek in 1970, graduated molecular biology at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science in 1992, and obtained PhD in Biochemistry and the University of Zagreb in 1995. He got his postdoctoral training at the Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics in Münster and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Since 1993 he is employed at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry in Zagreb. Dr. Lauc is author of over 150 research papers published in international journals and six international patents. He was invited to lecture at numerous international conferences, elected for visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins University and in 2011 also inducted in the prestigious Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. In 2012 he was appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh and in 2015 also at Kings College London. He is a President of the International Glycoscience Organization, member of the Steering Committee of the European Glycoscience Forum, and Co-Director of the Human Glycome Project.

 

Irena Trbojevic-Akmacic received her degree in Biochemistry and Analytical Chemistry at Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb in 2012 and her PhD degree in Biochemistry at the same University in 2015. Currently, she is working as a Head of UPLC Laboratory for Glycan Analysis in Genos Ltd, a private research organization that specializes in high-throughput glycomic analysis. Her research activities primarily focus on methods development for high-throughput N-glycan analysis and their application in population, genetic, epidemiologic and clinical glycomic studies. She has published 40 scientific papers in peer-reviewed international journals and participated in number of scientific trainings and conferences with oral and poster presentations.