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The Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University on the Gold Coast is conducting important research on the role carbohydrates play in disease and ageing.  It is hoped that this research will lead to the development of a new group of drugs (known as glycopharmaceuticals) that will interfere with the biological process of diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, brain disorders and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria.

The research is headed by Institute Director Professor Mark von Itzstein, who in 1996 received the Australia Prize for his role in the development of the anti-influenza drug Relenza^TM.  The group is focusing on three main areas of research: Mammalian Glycomics, Microbial Glycomics and the development of Glycotechnology.

Mammalian Glycomics

Within this branch of research the group is researching ways of fighting three different types of diseases: cancer, immune disorders and brain disorders.

Researchers have shown that a significant link exists between the presence of carbohydrates on the cancer cell surface and their metastatic (capacity to spread around the body) potential. The Institute's Cancer Glycomics research program is working towards the design and synthesis of carbohydrate-based 'plug drugs' (drugs which fit into the active sites of enzymes targeted by viruses), vaccines, and the biological evaluation of novel compounds that will enable new clinically useful anti-cancer medicines to be developed.

There is also enormous potential for the group to discover new classes of drugs to stop the progress of immune disorders such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis, as well as drugs to improve the body's recovery from brain and spinal injury.

Microbial Glycomics

Diseases caused by viruses have been a plague on humanity for time immemorial. Unfortunately drugs that combat viruses are extremely limited in number and are not broad spectrum. The emergence of new viruses or known viruses that are very aggressive and cause significant disease in man has heightened the need for new strategies to treat these virus-caused diseases.  Researchers at the Institute for Glycomics are conducting research into viruses that utilise carbohydrates, such as the Influenza virus and the Dengue virus, and are seeking to understand how these carbohydrates are utilised in viral infections so that scientists may identify targets for the development of new drugs that will treat and cure these diseases, such as Relenza^TM (shown in Figure 1).

The Bacterial Glycomics research program is studying drug resistant diseases such as golden staph and tuberculosis, which are caused by bacteria which are able to rapidly develop resistance to antibiotics.  These diseases are already a major problem in hospitals, and as they make their way into the general community it is essential that we develop new methods of preventing their outbreak and spread.  The Bacterial Glycomics research program is working towards the design and synthesis of 'plug drugs' that will be the 'next generation' antibiotics and vaccines to combat these diseases.

Glycotechnology

The Institute is also actively engaged in the development of a set of generic technologies to expedite research outcomes in its research programs. The major techniques and methods under development are in the areas of carbohydrate synthesis; purification & biochemical characterisation of carbohydrates and associated proteins; molecular biology and microbiology techniques; and structural biology.  It is envisaged that these technologies will also be of interest to industry.

HPC Facilities

Researchers at the Institute are aided in their research by the use of HPC resources at the Computational Chemistry facility.  For instance, researchers developing 'plug drugs' are interested in compounds that interact strongly with or bind receptors associated with a particular disease - this binding inhibits the receptors function and thus acts as a drug.  The Institute of Glycomics has access to a several databases of commercially available compounds that can be screened and scored in silico to provide lead compounds for further research.  This process is very computationally intensive, however using the new Linux cluster at Griffith University, the group has been able to screen over half a million compounds, getting results in a matter of days.  Compounds listed as highly potential in this output may then be further analysed experimentally to assess their suitability as possible drug targets.

 

Contacts

Prof. Mark von Itzstein and colleagues
Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University

Publications

Haselhorst T, Wilson JC, Thomson RJ, McAtamney S, Menting JG, Coppel RL and von Itzstein M. (2004). 'Saturation transfer difference (STD) ¹H-NMR experiments and in silico docking experiments to probe the binding of N-acetylneuraminic acid and derivatives to Vibrio cholerae sialidase'. Proteins 56(2): 346-53.