The Human Glycome Project - Exploring the New Frontier in Personalised Medicine

Gordan Lauc
(1) University of Zagreb Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Zagreb, Croatia (2) Genos Glycoscience Research Laboratory, Zagreb, Croatia glauc@pharma.hr

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Gordan Lauc (Presenter) University of Zagreb

Presenter Bio: Gordan Lauc is the Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Zagreb, Director of the National Centre of Scientific Excellence in Personalised Healthcare, and founder and CEO of Genos Glycoscience Research Laboratory. He is also honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh and the Kings College London, member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars and co-Director of the Human Glycome Project. His research team is pioneering high throughput glycomic analysis and the application of glycan biomarkers in the field of precision medicine. By combining glycomic data with extensive genetic, epigenetic, biochemical and physiological data in a systems biology approach they are trying to understand the role of glycans in normal physiology and disease. Professor Lauc co-authored over 200 research articles that are cited over 3,500 times.

Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months) Stock/Bonds Genos Glycoscience Salary Genos Glycoscience Discussing Products? YES, presenter will present educational content related to products/services of one or more ineligible company(ies) listed above. Conflict mitigation IN PROCESS.

The majority of proteins that evolved after appearance of multicellular life are glycosylated and glycans significantly affect structure and function of these proteins. However, due to structural complexity of glycans and the absence of a direct genetic template, the analysis of protein glycosylation is much more complicated than the analysis of DNA or proteins. Consequently, the knowledge about the importance of individual variation in glycans for both normal physiological processes and diseases is still limited. In the last few years it is becoming increasingly clear that variations in a DNA sequence are only a beginning of the understanding of complex human diseases. Genetic polymorphisms have to be put in the context of complex biology of life and a more elaborate approach that combines different ‘omics phenotypes is needed to understand disease mechanisms and perform patient stratification that transcends genomics. Glycomics, as by far the most complex posttranslational modification, has an immense potential in this respect, which is only beginning to be investigated. By generating glycomic data for over 80,000 individuals from some of the best characterised clinical and epidemiological cohorts we enabled glycomics to meet other ‘omics. The analysis of this rich gold mind is painting a picture of a very complex genetic and epigenetic regulation of glycosylation that fine tunes protein activity in multiple biological systems and, if altered, contributes to development of different complex diseases.