OUR RESEARCH

OLIGOSACCHARIDE SYNTHESIS 

Access to structurally defined oligosaccharide libraries is key for the advancement of glycobiology research and also for carbohydrate-based drug discovery. We aim to develop general and efficient methodologies for the synthesis of oligosaccharide and glyco-conjugates of biological importance by addressing the key hurdles in oligosaccharide synthesis.

FUNCTIONAL NANOMATERIALS

We design and develop glycan-based fluorescent nano probes as a powerful tool to screen for carbohydrate-mediated interactions and exploit those for therapeutic and diagnostic applications in cancer, antimicrobials and plants. 

DRUG DISCOVERY

The development of selective and potent anticancer therapeutics is one of the biggest challenges in the area of cancer research. G-quadruplexes are four-stranded guanine rich secondary DNA structures, which are over-represented in gene promoter regions including oncogenes and tumor suppressors. We aim to develop ligands able to stabilised selective G-quadruplex structures as novel anti-cancer therapeutics.