Mid-South Glycoscience Meeting
Thursday, June 16, 2022
Thad Cochran Research Center
Thank you to all who participated in the previous Mid-South Glycoscience Meetings and we look forward to welcoming you to the University of Mississippi again in the summer of 2023.
On behalf of Prof. Samir Ross, the investigators, and the Core Directors of the Glycoscience Center of Research Excellence, I look forward to welcoming you to the annual Mid-South Glycoscience Meeting at the University of Mississippi scheduled for June 16, 2022, in Oxford, Mississippi, which will be held with both in-person and virtual attendance options.
Our growing appreciation of glycoscience and the role of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates in a vast array of biological processes and biomedical applications is quickly changing our fields of research. The complexity and fast-moving nature of the field make it necessary for glycoscientists to come together and share new developments in the field, as well as to help introduce researchers to the field who have come across questions of glycoscience in the course of their research. The Mid-South Glycoscience Meeting is dedicated to bringing together researchers from diverse disciplines across the Mid-South region and beyond to discuss issues in glycoscience, foster collaborations, and learn new techniques and technologies. Featuring research highlights of regional researchers, as well as distinguished external speakers and experts in the field, the event is designed to be an accessible venue for researchers and trainees to share their work, network, and foster collaborations.
The meeting is sponsored by the Glycoscience Center of Research Excellence (GlyCORE), the only dedicated glycoscience research center in the Mid-South region. Established in 2020, GlyCORE seeks to support and foster glycoscience within the Mid-South region, providing specialized instrumentation and expertise to support both dedicated glycoscientists and biomedical researchers whose research happens to intersect with glycoscience.
We hope you find this year’s program to be exciting and we look forward to welcoming you in-person or virtually to the Glycoscience Center of Research Excellence on the beautiful University of Mississippi campus.
Prof. Joshua Sharp, Director
Glycoscience Center of research Excellence (GlyCORE)
Keynote Speakers
Richard D. Cummings, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts
Dr. Richard Cummings is the S. Daniel Abraham Endowed Professor of Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Surgical Sciences, the Director of the NIH-funded National Center for Functional Glycomics (NCFG), Director of Harvard Medical School Center for Glycoscience, as well as an international leader in the field of glycobiology. Cummings’ research aims to understand the structure and function of glycoconjugates in cell adhesion and signaling, studying the molecular and biochemical functions of surface and secreted glycoproteins in normal biological processes and disease.
Kelley Moremen, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
Dr. Kelley Moremen is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Georgia and is Associate Director for Commercialization for the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center (CCRC). Dr. Moremen has served as chair of the Glycobiology Gordon Research Conference and President, Board of Directors, and Secretary of the Society for Glycobiology. Research in the Moremen lab focuses on the structure, regulation, and localization of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis, recognition, and catabolism of mammalian glycoproteins.
Susan Bellis, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
Dr. Susan L. Bellis is a Professor in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, and the Alma B. Maxwell Endowed Chair, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Bellis received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Rhode Island in 1993, and conducted postdoctoral studies at SUNY Health Sciences Center in Syracuse, NY. She joined the faculty at UAB in 1998. Research in the Bellis laboratory focuses on the effects of N-glycan composition on the structure and function of cell surface receptors involved in neoplastic transformation. In particular, her group studies the role of α2,6 sialylation in modulating the activity of select growth factor receptors and death receptors. The addition of α2,6-linked sialic acids to N-glycans is mediated by the ST6GAL1 sialyltransferase, an enzyme known to be upregulated in numerous human malignancies. Using cell and organoid models, as well as mouse models with genetic overexpression or deletion of ST6GAL1, the Bellis group has shown that ST6GAL1 functions to promote both tumor-initiation and progression. Dr. Bellis’ research has been supported by the NIH, Department of Defense, American Heart Association, and other agencies. Dr. Bellis is a member of the NCI-sponsored Alliance of Glycobiologists for Cancer Research. She is also the 2022 President Elect of the Society for Glycobiology.
Ben Swarts, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI
Dr. Ben Swarts completed a B.A. in Chemistry from the College of Wooster in 2004 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Wayne State University in 2010 under the supervision of Zhongwu Guo. He studied as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley with Carolyn Bertozzi until 2013. He is an associate professor at Central Michigan University where his lab develops chemical tools for investigating and targeting cell envelope components in mycobacteria, which include the pathogen that causes tuberculosis.
Qiang Zhang, Department of Chemistry, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, NY
Dr. Qiang Zhang completed a Ph.D. at Boston University in 2011 and studied as a postdoctoral fellow at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2012 until 2015. He is an associate professor of Chemistry at the University at Albany where he is currently the Principal Investigator of the Zhang Group with primary research interests including novel chemical methodology facilitated polypeptide; carbohydrate, and glycoprotein synthesis.
2022 M-SGM Program and Abstracts
