Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience

Collaboration between different research groups in the field of glycobiology.

Duration: 1 January 2019
Project member(s): Prof. D.J. Lefeber (Dirk) Dr T.J. Boltje (Thomas) Dr C. Büll (Christian) Prof. A. Cambi (Alessandra) Prof. G.J. Adema (Gosse) Prof. M.I. De Jonge (Marien) Prof. J. van der Vlag (Johan) Prof. F.L. van de Veerdonk (Frank) Prof. F.P.J.T. Rutjes (Floris) Prof. J. Oomens (Jos) , Dr. Lenneke Cornelissen , Dr. Anna Marneth , Dr. Jeroen Langereis , Dr. Willeke Daamen , Dr. Laia Querol Cano , Dr. Quirijn de Mast , Dr. Hanka Venselaar
Project type: Research
Organisation: Faculty of Science, Faculty of Medical Sciences (Radboudumc)

The Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience is a collaboration between different research groups of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science to engage in the field of glycobiology.

Glycoscience

After the genome and the proteome, the modification of proteins with glycans (the glycome) represents a new challenge and a new perspective for understanding human biology and diseases. This field of science, called Glycoscience, is a unique field of research that is often neglected despite its tremendous impact on biological processes. Glycans are the most common biomolecules, are expressed in all organisms and play a central role in biology. Analysing and understanding the glycome will have a major impact on every aspect of life sciences, from developmental biology to new forms of personalised diagnostics and therapy. Our research interests range from fundamental questions to new technologies with clinical applications.

Lecture Series Glycoscience

Research within the Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience

Since the Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience consists of different groups, a large number of research areas in the field of glycoscience are covered. Our research interests range from fundamental questions to new technologies with clinical applications.

Research groups

Prof. Dr. Dirk Lefeber

Understanding the process of protein glycosylation in neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disease

Dr. Thomas Boltje

Development of novel chemistry-based glycotools for the understanding of the role of glycosylation in disease

Dr. Christian Bull

Unraveling the mechanisms of cellular glycosylation and biological interactions with glycans.

Prof. Dr. Alessandra Cambi

Understanding the role of glycosylation in membrane organization

Prof. Dr. Gosse Adema

Understanding the role of glycosylation in tumor biology

Dr. Lenneke Cornelissen

The T cell glycocalyx and how its affects T cell (tumor) immunity

Dr. Anna Marneth

Glycosylation in normal and aberrant hematopoiesis

Dr. Hans Wessels

Understanding the role of protein isoforms in human medicine

Dr. Marien de Jonge and Dr. Jeroen Langereis

Understanding the role of glycosylation in bacterial infections

Dr. ir. Willeke Daamen

Application of glycosaminoglycans and glycosaminoglycans mimetics in soft tissue regeneration

Dr. Laia Querol Cano

Function of galectins and glycan-mediated interactions in anti-tumor immunity

Dr. Johan van der Vlag

Understanding the role of glycosylation in kidney disorders

Dr. Quirijn de Mast and Dr. Frank vd Veerdonk

Understanding the role of glycosylation in arboviral and fungal infections

Dr. Paul White

Unraveling the mechanisms of glycosylation reactions using NMR

Dr. Hanka Venselaar

Structure bioinformatics, understanding the role of glycosylation on protein structure and function

Prof. Dr. Floris Rutjes

Synthetic organic chemistry of (bio)molecules

Dr. Jonathan Martens

Infrared ion spectroscopy of (bio)molecules

Prof. Dr. Jos Oomens

Infrared ion spectroscopy of (bio)molecules

Goal & ambition

Our main goals include increasing expertise in the field of glycoscience by creating a unique infrastructure in order to enhance knowledge and technology transfer. To create awareness, we will set up teaching programs and support collaborations among the Radboudumc and Radboud University.

Education

The Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience offers different internships for students who want to work in the field of glycobiology. Positions in different research areas are possible. For more information, please contact the consortium coordinator, Rianne.vanOutersterp [at] radboudumc.nl (Dr. Rianne van Outersterp).

Technologies

We offer various technologies for the investigation of glycosylation. These technologies are made available to researchers within the RCG, but also for external collaborations. Please contact us if you would like to include these technologies in your research.

Mass spectrometry based analytical tools

Mass spectrometric analysis of purified glycoproteins or whole glycoproteome profiling from biological samples like bio fluids. These technologies can be used to characterize glycosylation profiles for research and diagnostic purposes.
Calculator for mass prediction of glycans, glycopeptides and glycoproteins at glycomass.com
N-glycan profiling from biological samples
Flux-analysis of metabolites involved in carbohydrate metabolism such as nucleotide sugars and sugar phosphates.

Synthetic glycotools

We developed synthetic glycosylation modulators to track and perturb glycan synthesis and recognition. These tools can be used in cell experiments, bacteria or in animal models such as zebra fish and mice. The new compounds have been made available to the consortium members and collaborative projects have been initiated.

Bioimaging techniques

We offer advanced bioimaging techniques to visualize cellular defects due to aberrant glycosylation. These techniques include:

Super-resolution fluorescent microscopy
CryoEM
Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (CLEM)

Animal models

We established zebrafish models to study immune cell function in congenital disorders of glycosylation.

Zebrafish Facility

Publications

Since the Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience consists of different groups, a large number of research areas in the field of glycoscience are covered. Find relevant publications per research area below.

Synthesis

Pijnenborg, J. F. A., Visser, E. A., Noga, M., Rossing, E., Veizaj, R., Lefeber, D., Büll, C., & Boltje, T. J. (2021).
Cellular Fucosylation Inhibitors Based on Fluorinated Fucose‐1‐phosphates**.
Chemistry
Elferink, H., Mensink, R. A., Castelijns, W. W. A., Jansen, O., Bruekers, J. P. J., Martens, J., Oomens, J., Rijs, A. M., & Boltje, T. J. (2019).
The Glycosylation Mechanisms of 6,3‐Uronic Acid Lactones.
Angewandte Chemie
Elferink, H., Mensink, R. A., White, P. B., & Boltje, T. J. (2016).
Stereoselective β‐Mannosylation by Neighboring‐Group Participation.
Angewandte Chemie
Büll, C., Heise, T., Beurskens, D. M. H., Riemersma, M., Ashikov, A., Rutjes, F. P. J. T., Van Kuppevelt, T. H., Lefeber, D., Brok, M. H. D., Adema, G. J., & Boltje, T. J. (2015).
Sialic Acid Glycoengineering Using an Unnatural Sialic Acid for the Detection of Sialoglycan Biosynthesis Defects and On-Cell Synthesis of Siglec Ligands.
ACS Chemical Biology

Cell Biology

Linders, P., Gerretsen, E. C. F., Ashikov, A., Vals, M., Revelo, N. H., Arts, R., Baerenfaenger, M., Zijlstra, F., Huijben, K., Raymond, K., Muru, K., Fjodorova, O., Pajusalu, S., Õunap, K., Ter Beest, M., Lefeber, D., & Van Den Bogaart, G. (2020).
Congenital disorder of glycosylation caused by starting site-specific variant in syntaxin-5.
medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory).
Elferink, H., Bruekers, J. P. J., Veeneman, G. H., & Boltje, T. J. (2020).
A comprehensive overview of substrate specificity of glycoside hydrolases and transporters in the small intestine.
Cellular And Molecular Life Sciences
De Haas, P., Hendriks, W., Lefeber, D., & Cambi, A. (2020).
Biological and Technical Challenges in Unraveling the Role of N-Glycans in Immune Receptor Regulation.
Frontiers in Chemistry
Willems, A. P., Sun, L., Schulz, M. A., Tian, W., Ashikov, A., Van Scherpenzeel, M., Hermans, E., Clausen, H., Yang, Z., & Lefeber, D. (2019).
Activity of N-acylneuraminate-9-phosphatase (NANP) is not essential for de novo sialic acid biosynthesis.
Biochimica Et Biophysica
Büll, C., Boltje, T. J., Balneger, N., Weischer, S., Wassink, M., Van Gemst, J. J., Bloemendal, V. R. L. J., Boon, L., Van Der Vlag, J., Heise, T., Brok, M. H. D., & Adema, G. J. (2018).
Sialic Acid Blockade Suppresses Tumor Growth by Enhancing T-cell–Mediated Tumor Immunity.
Cancer Research
Tegtmeyer, L. C., Rust, S., Van Scherpenzeel, M., Ng, B. G., Losfeld, M., Timal, S., Raymond, K., He, P., Ichikawa, M., Veltman, J. A., Huijben, K., Shin, Y. S., Sharma, V., Adamowicz, M., Lammens, M., Reunert, J., Witten, A., Schrapers, E., Matthijs, G., . . . Marquardt, T. (2014).
Multiple phenotypes in phosphoglucomutase 1 deficiency.
New England Journal Of Medicine
Guerrero‐Castillo, S., Baertling, F., Kownatzki, D., Wessels, H. J. C. T., Arnold, S., Brandt, U., & Nijtmans, L. G. (2017).
The Assembly Pathway of Mitochondrial Respiratory Chain Complex I.
Cell Metabolism
Van Karnebeek, C., Bonafé, L., Wen, X., Tarailo‐Graovac, M., Balzano, S., Royer‐Bertrand, B., Ashikov, A., Garavelli, L., Mammi, I., Turolla, L., Breen, C., Donnai, D., Cormier‐Daire, V., Héron, D., Nishimura, G., Uchikawa, S., Campos‐Xavier, B., Rossi, A., Hennet, T., . . . Superti‐Furga, A. (2016).
NANS-mediated synthesis of sialic acid is required for brain and skeletal development.
Nature Genetics

Diagnostics and Biomarker

Buijsers, B., Yanginlar, C., De Nooijer, A. H., Grondman, I., Maciej-Hulme, M. L., Jonkman, I., Janssen, N., Rother, N., De Graaf, M., Pickkers, P., Kox, M., Joosten, L. A. B., Nijenhuis, T., Netea, M. G., Hilbrands, L. B., Van de Veerdonk, F. L., Duivenvoorden, R., De Mast, Q., & Van Der Vlag, J. (2020).
Increased plasma heparanase activity in COVID-19 patients.
medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory).
Van Tol, W., Michelakakis, H., Georgiadou, E., Van Den Bergh, P., Μωραιτου, Μ., Papadimas, G. K., Papadopoulos, C., Huijben, K., Alsady, M., Willemsen, M., & Lefeber, D. (2019).
Toward understanding tissue‐specific symptoms in dolichol‐phosphate‐mannose synthesis disorders; insight from DPM3‐CDG.
Journal Of Inherited Metabolic Disease
Van Scherpenzeel, M., Timal, S., Rymen, D., Hoischen, A., Wuhrer, M., Ederveen, A. L. H., Grünewald, S., Péanne, R., Saada, A., Edvardson, S., Grønborg, S., Ruijter, G. J. G., Kattentidt-Mouravieva, A., Brum, J. M., Freckmann, M. L., Tomkins, S., Jalan, A., Procházková, D., Ondrušková, N., . . . Lefeber, D. (2014).
Diagnostic serum glycosylation profile in patients with intellectual disability as a result of MAN1B1 deficiency. Brain
Jansen, E., Timal, S., Ryan, M. D., Ashikov, A., Van Scherpenzeel, M., Graham, L. A., Mandel, H., Hoischen, A., Iancu, T. C., Raymond, K., Steenbergen, G., Gilissen, C., Huijben, K., Van Bakel, N. H., Maeda, Y., Rodenburg, R. J., Adamowicz, M., Crushell, E., Koenen, H. J. P. M., . . . Lefeber, D. (2016).
ATP6AP1 deficiency causes an immunodeficiency with hepatopathy, cognitive impairment and abnormal protein glycosylation.
Nature Communications
Van Gool, A. J., Biétrix, F., Caldenhoven, E., Zatloukal, K., Scherer, A., Litton, J., Meijer, G. A., Blomberg, N., Smith, A., Mons, B., Heringa, J., Koot, W., Smit, M. J., Hajdúch, M., Rijnders, T., & Ussi, A. (2017).
Bridging the translational innovation gap through good biomarker practice.
Nature Reviews. Drug Discover/Nature Reviews. Drug Discovery

Structure Elucidation

Elferink, H., Severijnen, M. E., Martens, J., Mensink, R. A., Berden, G., Oomens, J., Rutjes, F. P. J. T., Rijs, A. M., & Boltje, T. J. (2018).
Direct Experimental Characterization of Glycosyl Cations by Infrared Ion Spectroscopy.
Journal Of The American Chemical Society

About

The Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience (RCG) was established in 2019 as a collaboration between different research groups of the Radboud University to engage in the field of glycobiology. Currently, ten different groups are working within the Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience including technicians, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and professors. The Consortium is coordinated by Rianne.vanOutersterp [at] radboudumc.nl (Dr. Rianne van Outersterp).

PhD council

The PhD council is driven by PhD students for PhD students (and postdocs) from different groups of the RCG. They organise a scientific glycoscience course and informal social events. The PhD council currently consists of Eshani Ganjoo and Daniël Hornikx.

Contact information

For more information, please get in touch with Rianne van Outersterp at rianne.vanoutersterp@radboudumc.nl.