About us

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​Our research group is interested in carbohydrate chemistry and synthesizing saccharides and glycomimetics as drug candidates. Our primary focus is on non-conventional synthetic methods and glycans associated with neglected tropical diseases (NTD) such as Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas disease), Schistosoma mansoni (Schistosomiasis), and Leishmania donovani (Leishmaniasis). Current projects in our group are directed to synthesize carbohydrate fragments associated with cell surface glycans of parasites to develop vaccine candidates and serological detection tools. Other research lines in our group include: the design of glycomimetic inhibitors of bacterial AB5 toxins, the design of anti-carbohydrate antibody ligands to develop anti-allergy drugs, and the development of electrosynthetic methods in carbohydrate chemistry.

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Why carbohydrates?

The biological functions of sugars extend far beyond their classical roles as energy sources and structural building blocks. The recent progresses on the development of synthetic methods to prepare complex glycans and the advancement of bioanalytical techniques have unveiled the paramount roles of glycans in various physiological and pathological processes. To date, it is well known that glycosylation is one of the most common post-translational modifications of proteins and that many biological functions start from the molecular recognition of a glycan by a protein receptor. Homeostasis, muscular integrity, inflammation, tumor metastasis, infection, and immune response are some examples of biological processes involving protein-carbohydrate interactions. We are interested in developing synthetic strategies to synthesize carbohydrates and glycomimetics that could serve as drug candidates or molecular probes aimed at neglected and emerging infectious diseases.