About us

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We are a research team interested in the design and synthesis of carbohydrates and glycomimetic compounds with applications in chemical biology and drug discovery. Our main focus is on 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 the cell surface of these 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 source and structural building blocks. The development of synthetic methods to prepare complex glycans, together with the advance of bioanalytical techniques, has unveiled unsuspected roles glycans play in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. To date, it is well known that glycosylation is one of the most common post-translational modification of proteins and that many biological functions involve the molecular recognition of a glycan by a protein receptor. Homeostasis, muscular integrity, inflammation, tumor metastasis, infection, and immune response are examples of biological processes involving protein-carbohydrate interactions. We are interested in the synthesis of carbohydrates and glycomimetics with applications in chemical biology and drug discovery with a special focus on glycans associated with neglected tropical diseases (NTD) and emerging infections.