Lectins and lectomes: from therapeutical targets to synthetic biology

 

Seminar

Lectins and lectomes: from therapeutical targets to synthetic biology

Dr. Anne Imberty

Lectins and lectomes: from therapeutical targets to synthetic biology Dr. Imberty a senior researcher of Centre National de la Rercherche Scientifique, in the Institute (CERMAV), in Grenoble. She has been the director of CERMAV for the period 2016-2020. She is the coordinator of the Glyco@Alps network funded by Université Grenoble Alpes. Previously, she acted as Deputy Director of the Chemistry Department of CNRS in Paris in charge of interdisciplinarity. She graduated in biology from Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. In 1984, she joined the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Grenoble and did her PhD on starch structure She started modeling studies of protein-carbohydrate interaction during her post-doc in Toronto. She received the Young Researcher Award of the French Carbohydrate Society in 1999, the Roy Whistler Award from International Carbohydrate Organisation in 2004, the “Charles Dhéré” Award from French Academy of Sciences in 2011, the silver medal from CNRS in 2013, the Legion d’Honneur in 2014 and the Catalán-Sabatier" International Prize from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry in 2020. She published more than 300 scientific paper and is Associate Editor of Glycobiology. Since 1999 she has a senior research position in CNRS-Grenoble. Her research interests are in the field of structural glycosciences, with main interest on biologically active oligosaccharides and their interaction with proteins. Her present work is focused about lectins from pathogenic microorganisms. The characterisation of their interaction with human glycoconjugates and the design of competing glycocompounds open the way for anti-adhesive therapeutical strategies. Furthermore, these lectins can be engineered through synthetic glycobiology strategy for creating new tools in biotechnology, diagnostics and therapy.