Sugar molecules coating the cells of every living thing — called glycans — are essential to human health, regulating immune responses, infections, inflammation and healing.
Five of the world’s 10 top-selling drugs in 2024 — treating conditions from arthritis to skin cancers — relied on glycans, generating more than $100 billion globally in sales. Some 70 per cent of approved therapeutic proteins rely on glycan structures, making possible new classes of vaccines, precision diagnostics and targeted therapies.
Now, Alberta Innovates and GlycoNet, a research network led out of the University of Alberta, have each contributed $1 million toward glycomics research in Alberta.
“What makes glycomics so exciting is its untapped potential,” says GlycoNet CEO Elizabeth Nanak. “We’re opening new frontiers in medicine, enabling the development of innovative vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.”
With more than 210 researchers in 37 institutions across Canada, GlycoNet has funded more than 180 projects. GlycoNet investigators in the faculties of science and medicine & dentistry collaborate to understand the role of carbohydrates, or sugars, in living cells and develop new health solutions.
The network has invested $38.9 million from federal funding and leveraged $54.4 million of partner funding into research and development since 2015, training more than 740 personnel and supporting the creation of seven new Canadian companies.