A Patrick Gunning
Institute of Food Research, UK
Title: Deciphering the mucin glycocode by force spectroscopy
Biography
Biography: A Patrick Gunning
Abstract
Mucin plays a crucial role in maintaining cellular homeostasis along the entire length of the GI tract and several other epithelial surfaces. Mucin consists of a polypeptide backbone which is heavily substituted with a diverse array of glycans. This presentation will describe a methodology to characterize the inherent heterogeneity of mucin in a molecular level quantifiable manner in order to reveal information which may be encoded by the glycan distribution. Such information is termed “glycocode” and is believed to directly influence the outcome of the symbiotic relationship between the gut microbiota and the host in health and disease.