About

Glycoscience is a broad term used for all research and technology involving carbohydrates, ranging from cell biology, human nutrition and medicine to carbohydrate-based materials and the conversion of carbohydrates to energy and includes the analysis, synthesis, biosynthesis and modification of carbohydrates.

Glycoscience has clear strategic relevance to both industrial biotechnology and bioenergy and IBCarb with its focus on natural carbohydrates is ideally placed to contribute to many aspects of the IBBE agenda, moving away from dependence on hydrocarbons to develop sustainable biotechnologies and reduce GHG emissions and ensuring both energy and food security.

IBCarb will support UK glycoscientists to develop cutting edge technology in synthesis, biology and analysis of carbohydrates and bring these technologies to the market and provide innovative manufacturing processes.

IBCarb activities will be organised into 5 sub-themes as follows:

1. Tools
The development of a glycoscience toolkit has been identified as the most important activity for a roadmap to advance glycoscience (Transforming Glycoscience: A Roadmap for the Future, http://glyco.nas.edu). IBCarb will support the development and commercialisation of a glycoscience toolkit from academia into industry through collaborations with tool providers (e.g. providers of reagents, instrumentation manufacturers, software developers) for applications in health, food, materials and energy. More…

2. Renewables – Materials, Chemicals and Energy
Sustainable biorenewables present a way to move away from our dependence on hydrocarbons and move towards a sustainable bio-based chemicals industry. IBCarb will support the development of sustainable biotechnologies and processes for the bioconversion and bioengineering of carbohydrates through synthetic biology, and the generation of tailor-made carbohydrate polymers with unique properties and novel applications. More…

3. Food
Sugars are important dietary components due to their physical properties and their nutritional value and potential in functional foods is apparent. IBCarb will develop and deploy tools and reagents to: understand and exploit human milk oligosaccharides to promote infant health; investigate prebiotic non-digestible polysaccharides as prebiotics; provide natural sugar-containing sweeteners of low calorific value. More…

4. Health
IBCarb will support the development of novel glycoengineering approaches for the preparation and quality control of biopharmaceuticals, for the identification of glycobiomarkers supporting the development of targeted diagnostics, and novel approaches to antibiotics and alternatives thereto. More…

5. Societal Impact
IBCarb will engage with stakeholders to raise awareness and to build glycoscience into education in order to inform the general public and policy makers about new opportunities that exist as we shift from a hydrocarbon based economy to use of biorenewables. In addition, we will train scientists in academia and industry to realize the full potential glycotechnology has to offer. IBCarb will not only focus on technical and scientific challenges, but will incorporate issues facing society (such as carbon footprint, healthy food) and aim to provide policy makers with strategies to address the issues. More…