- Guest: Ana Arda
- Title: “Glycan-Lectin molecular recognition: New NMR strategies and key molecular mechanisms”
- Date: Friday, 02/06/2023 – 12:30 h (GMT+2)
- Organicez by CICA
- CICA Conference Room
A brief review of the conference and your CV:
Glycans (or carbohydrates, saccharides, sugars) are key biomolecules, essential to the existence of all known living organisms. Besides their very well-known metabolic and structural roles, glycans are also involved in the regulation of essential cellular functions, by acting as ligands for the so-called lectins, which are carbohydrate-specific receptors.
In our group we study from a molecular perspective the rules governing these glycan-lectin interactions, with the aim of establishing structural-functional relationships that allow us to comprehend and modulate the biological events mediated by these molecular recognition processes. For that, we integrate different biophysical techniques, with a special emphasis on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).
Recent results related to Galectins and C-type lectins binding to different partners (glycans and glycoproteins), as well as new NMR strategies to approach complex binding systems will be presented.
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[3] Unione L et al. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2022, 61(18), e202201432.
[4] Moure MJ et al. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2021, 60 (34), 18777-18782.
[5] Quintana JI et al. Front Chem. 2021, 9:664097.
[6] Bertuzzi S et al. Chemistry, 2020, 26 (67), 15643-15653.
[7] Gimeno A et al. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019, 58 (22), 7268-7272.
Brief CV
Ana Arda studied Chemistry at University of A Coruña (Spain), from where I got my PhD degree in 2006. Afterwards, I moved to The Netherlands for a two-year Postdoc in the group of Prof H. Kamerling at the Bijvoet Center for Biological Research (Utrecht, The Netherlands) and started to work with carbohydrates (glycans). I then moved to Madrid, to the Center for Biological Research (CSIC) to join the group of Prof. Jiménez-Barbero, where I got involved with the use of NMR tools and strategies to understand and characterize glycan structural features and study their molecular recognition processes by protein receptors. In 2014, I moved with the group of Prof. Jiménez-Barbero to CIC bioGUNE Research Center in Bilbao (Spain). In 2016 I was awarded with the tenure-track-like Ramón y Cajal Fellow, and in 2022 I was promoted to Ikerbasque Research Associate. At CIC bioGUNE I my research, by combination of different techniques and in collaboration with other groups we try to understand from a molecular perspective, how glycans bind to special protein receptors, mainly lectins and antibodies, in biologically relevant processes, mostly related to host-pathogen interactions and immune response.