Major technological advances have recently opened up the world of glycans, the most abundant class of biomolecules on Earth. The development of probes using bio-orthogonal chemistry, for which Carolyn Bertozzi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2022, the development of glycol-arrays and glycomics, and the use of cryo-microscopy to elucidate supramolecular complexes are all cutting-edge approaches that are contributing to the current spectacular boom in Glycoscience.

Due to their structural diversity, glycans represent a veritable biological code that governs controls the fate of cells (migration, interaction, development, etc.) and influences the pathophysiology of all living organisms. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has drawn attention to the important role of glycans in host-pathogen relationships and their considerable potential as a therapeutic targets. A detailed understanding of glycan metabolism has thus become a major challenge in understanding the etiology of many pathologies (infections, cancers, inflammation, etc.) and in developing new therapeutic approaches. The emerging field of glyco-drugs opens up the possibility of designing highly specific recombinant antibodies, customised therapeutic proteins, antibiotics to combat multi-drug resistance or chemical chaperones for rare diseases. Finally, dynamic monitoring of glycan expression offers unlimited possibilities for the development of early diagnosis of metabolic, inflammatory, genetic and infectious diseases, with a view to precision medicine.

This two-day symposium will focus on the latest advances in Glycoscience. Our aim is to provide the community interested in human and clinical biology an overview of the latest innovations and concepts in basic glycosciences and their application to biomedicine. This face-to-face conference, open to all, aims to promote the essential translation of Glycoscience into a better understanding of biology. It will also offer a forward-looking view of the discipline and its potential in basic and clinical science.

• Sylvie Fournel-Gigleux, IMoPA, CNRS-Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France
• Carine Giovannangeli, Institut thématique Bases moléculaires et structurales du vivant - Inserm, Paris, France
• Yann Guerardel, UGSF, CNRS, Université de Lille, France
• Anne Imberty, CERMAV - CNRS - Université Grenoble Alpes, France
• Hugues Lortat-Jacob, Institut de Biologie Structurale - CNRS - CEA - Université Grenoble Alpes, France
• Boris Vauzeilles, ICSN - CNRS - Université Paris-Saclay, France

• Sandrine Belouzard, Center for Infection & Immunity of Lille, Lille, France
• Christophe Biot, Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle, Université de Lille, Lille, France
• Thomas Boltje, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
• Catherine Bui, Ingénierie Moléculaire et Physiopathologie Articulaire, CNRS 7365 - Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France 
• Isabelle Compagnon, Institut Lumière Matière, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
• Max Crispin, School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
• Cristina De Castro, Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy
• François Foulquier, Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle, Université de Lille, Lille, France
• Marcelo Guerin, Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
• Adnan Halim, Copenhagen Center for Glycomics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Anne Harduin, Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle, Université de Lille, Lille, France
• Laura Hartmann, Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
• Cedric Laguri, Institut de Biologie Structurale, Grenoble, France
• Frédérique Lisacek, Proteome Informatics Group, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva, Switzerland
• Laurence Mulard, Chimie des biomolecules, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• Salome Pinho, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
• Winfried Römer, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
• David Ropartz, Biopolymères Interactions Assemblages, INRAE, Nantes, France
• Matthieu Sollogoub, Sorbonne University, Paris, France
• Kenichi Suzuki, iGCORE, Gifu University, Gifu, Japan
• Rebecca Wild, Institut de Biologie Structurale, Grenoble, France
• Manfred Wührer, Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands