IBCarb Glycoscience Tools for Bioindustries – Minutes
Tuesday 1st April 2014, 10am – 4pm MIB, Manchester
Delegates: Prof Sabine Flitsch (MIB), Dr Stuart Haslam (Imperial), Dr Kristina Marx (Bruker), Dr Lee Gethings (Waters), Dr Weston Struwe (Oxford), Dr Claire Doherty (MIB), Dr Andrew Powell (Liverpool John Moore), Henry Charlton (Pall), Dr John Liddell (Fujifilm Diosynth), Prof Ten Feizi (Imperial), Dr Wengang Chai (Imperial), Dr Ben Sattelle (MIB), Dr Nigel Allanson (Peakdale), Dr Martin Fascione (York), Dr Sabine Biesenbruch (SGS), Dr Richard Easton (SGS), Dr Gerard Powell (Actavis), Dr Andy Hacking (Dextra), Dr Mike Davies (CPI), Prof Paul Popelier (MIB), Dr Norihito Kawasaki (IFR), Dr Simon Webb (MIB), Dr Ian Rowles (MIB), Dr Jenny Thirlway (Glythera), Dr Daniel Ungar (York), Dr Adrian Higson (NNFCC), Dr Len Bell (Covance), Dr Chris Lawson (Glycomix), Dr Rod Watson (Bruker), Dr Alec Kettle (Bruker), Ketan Patel (DCN Corp), Dr Ewan Blanch (MIB), Dr Claire Eyers (Liverpool), Dr Martina Lahmann (Bangor), Dr Colin Miles (BBSRC), Dr Vanessa Eastwick-Field (Carbosynth), Dr Vicky Gibson (Carbosynth), Prof Alan Dickson (Manchester), Dr Joanne Flannelly (Manchester)
Skype: Dr Charlie Bavington (Glycomar)
Apologies: Prof Jerry Turnbull (Liverpool), Dr Sarah Allman (Open University), Dr Derek Macmillan (UCL), Dr Andrew Reason (SGS), Prof Perdita Barran (MIB)
Introduction to IBCarb by Professor Sabine Flitsch
Prof Sabine Flitsch welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced IBCarb – Glycoscience Tools for Biotechnology and Bioenergy, a newly commenced BBSRC NIBB. The main aims of the meeting were to help build closer links between academia and industries as well as formulate proposals for IBCarb funding opportunities. IBCarb has 2 funding streams available, Proof of Concept funds and BBSRC Business Interaction Vouchers, which were explained.
In addition to the IBCarb Proof of Concept funds and Business Interaction Vouchers, the TSB IB Catalyst fund was highlighted. Dr Adrian Higson, co- ordinator of the Catalyst gave an overview and the 5 streams of funding available (Early-stage-Translation; Early-stage-Feasibility studies; Industrial Research; Late-stage- pre-experimental feasibility studies; Late stage – experimental development).
Flash presentations from various speakers
A series of talks were given. Firstly, Dr Stuart Haslam gave an overview of the research carried out by the Biopolymer Mass Spectrometry Group at Imperial College London and the use of mass spectrometry to characterise the glycome. Dr Kristina Marx (Bruker) gave a talk on ‘Automated detection and identification of glycans and glycopeptides from LC-MS/MS datasets’ and Bruker’s capabilities. Dr Lee Gethings (Waters) gave a presentation on ‘Strategies and Technologies for Characterising Glycosylation’ and Waters’ instrumentation capabilities. Dr Weston Struwe (Oxford) presented some of the latest results from his research into HIV gp120 glycan-protein interactions, O-glycans in mucin and the implications for C. jejuni pathogenicity and the effect of metals adduction on glycan conformation. Dr Ewan Blanch (MIB) gave the final presentation on ‘Raman Optical Activity of Carbohydrates’.
Delegate networking session
After a networking lunch, a Speed-Dating session took place where academics were partnered with industry representatives to share their research interests and identify potential for future research collaborations.
Breakout project discussion sessions
The meeting delegates then broke up into 3 smaller groups to discuss some of the challenges in glycoscience tools towards health applications. The aim was to generate project ideas for the IBCarb Proof of Concept funding and Business Interaction Vouchers as well as a TSB IB Catalyst application.
After an hour, the groups reconvened and presented their ideas to the rest of the delegates. There was clear overlap between the ideas generated from the 3 different groups and similar conclusions reached. Therefore, as there was such a strong consensus on the tools required to advance the development of glycoscience in health applications, it was agreed that a joint bid to the TSB IB Catalyst would be formulated from these ideas and submitted.
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