GRK 1549:  Molecular and Cellular Glyco-Sciences (MCGS). Understanding Structure/Function Relationships of Carbohydrate/Protein Interactions

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: from 2009 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 77760487

Carbohydrate-containing biomolecules - oligo- and polysaccharides, glycoproteins and glycolipids - are increasingly recognised as information-bearing molecules with highly important signalling and regulatory functions within and between cells and organisms. Many of these are due to direct interactions of the respective carbohydrates with cellular proteins, such as receptors or enzymes. Molecular and biochemical aspects of such carbohydrate/protein interactions in the cellular context are characterised in detail by our International Research Training Group. The focus lies on structure/function relationships, i.e. on elucidating the structural requirements responsible for the interaction of glycans with their target proteins.
While the Indian groups are mainly dealing with the protein aspects (e.g. identifying potential carbohydrate binding sites of specific agglutinins), the German groups are focussing on the analytical and functional aspects of the carbohydrate moieties (e.g. identifying potential protein binding domains of glycans). Each doctoral project is jointly investigated by an Indian and by a German group. This will create a basic understanding of structure/function relationships at a molecular level and, thus, will allow us to eventually develop, validate and apply the tools needed to exploit the biotechnological potential of glyco-structures for novel knowledge-driven applications.
The Research Training Group convenes a group of internationally recognised research teams from biology, chemistry, pharmacy and medicine, initiating an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach for the doctoral candidates’ training and education. The Research Training Group accepts candidates with different degrees in different disciplines of natural sciences, including applied sciences such as biotechnology, pharmacy, medicine, pharmacology, agriculture, veterinary, food and material sciences, from a competitive pool of international applicants. The Research Training Group offers a basic lecture with seminar on glyco-sciences and three-weeks summer and winter schools followed by one-week excursions, individual technical workshops and two enabling skills modules. The Research Training Group will organise bi-annual MCGS Network Symposia. Shortly after its inauguration, the Research Training Group comprised 15 doctoral and post-doctoral students advised by 14 scientists, with half of the students and scientists from Germany, half from India.

• DFG Programme: International Research Training Groups
• International Connection: India
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Biomedizin
• IRTG-Partner Institution: University of Hyderabad
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Bruno Moerschbacher
• Participating Researchers: Laura Bindila, Ph.D.; Dr. Alexandra Deters; Professor Dr. Kay Grobe; Professor Dr. Andreas Hensel; Professorin Dr. Jasna Peter-Katalinic; Professor Dr. Stefan Werner Schneider; Professorin Dr. Daniela G. Seidler; Professor Dr. Martin Klaus Wild
• IRTG-Partner: Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Nadimpalli Siva Kumar
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Podile Appa Rao; Dr. Rengarajan Balamurugan; Dr. Mandar V. Deshmukh; Professor Dr. C. C. Giri; Dr. Kunchur Guruprasad; Dr. Perali Ramu Sridhar; Professor Dr. Rajan Sankaranarayanan; Privatdozent Dr. Kottapalli Seshagirirao; Dr. Ramesh V. Sonti; Professor Dr. Musti J. Swamy; Professor Dr. Kandasamy Ulaganathan