GlyCORE to Host Inaugural Mid-South Glycoscience Meeting

The Glycoscience Center of Research Excellence at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy is set to host the inaugural Mid-South Glycoscience Meeting.

The meeting is slated for July 19 at the Thad Cochran Research Center. The one-day event will be a venue for Mid-South glycoscience researchers and their trainees to feature their work, network and establish new opportunities for collaboration.

GlyCORE researchers study how carbohydrates and carbohydrate-containing molecules affect human health. The event is an important step for the center, which was founded in 2020, said Joshua Sharp, GlyCORE director and associate professor of pharmacology, chemistry and biochemistry.

“This is our introduction to the glycoscience community in the region,” Sharp said. “We have a lot of unique resources here that we would like to introduce other Mid-South investigators to, and a lot of exciting work by our faculty members that we would like to get the word out to the community.”

Samir Ross, co-director of GlyCORE and professor of pharmacognosy, echoed Sharp’s sentiments, saying that this is an opportunity to showcase GlyCORE to the community.

“This meeting will be able to show state-of-the-art research core facilities required to support modern glycoscience research, including the Analytical and Biophysical Research Core, the Imaging Research Core and the Computational and Bioinformatics Research Core,” Ross said.

Sharp also hopes the meeting will bring together the Mid-South glycoscience community in a new and lasting way.

“This particular region has not had a glycoscience center, and so it hasn’t had any unifying events or meetings,” Sharp said. “We’re hoping this meeting will help the regional glycoscientists form a collaborative community, promote sharing of ideas and resources, and become a bit more impactful and competitive on the international glycoscience scene.”

Ross added that the meeting will be beneficial for all attendees, regardless of their level of experience.

“This meeting will be an excellent opportunity for both experienced glycoscientists and biomedical researchers who are just entering the field to meet and foster stronger ties,” he said.

Attendees of the meeting also will hear from an impressive slate of featured speakers. They include Nancy Dahms of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Linda C. Hsieh-Wilson of the California Institute of Technology, Steven D. Townsend of Vanderbilt University, Charlie Fehl of Wayne State University and Maciej Walczak of the University of Colorado.

“Our group of invited speakers covers a wide amount of space and represents a large swath of available glycoscience,” Sharp said. 

A virtual option will be available for attendees who are unable to attend the meeting in person, and it will include opportunities to interact with presenters, Sharp said. In the event of COVID-19 restrictions, the meeting will shift to an all-virtual format.

Visit the GlyCORE website for more information and to register for the meeting.

By Patrick Smith