$10 Million NIH Grant Fuels Next Chapter for UM Glycoscience Research

Glycoscience is the study of carbohydrates, or sugars, at the molecular level in the human body and how those molecules play an important role in almost every biological process, such as helping cells communicate and affecting immune system response. It connects chemistry, biology and medicine to help scientists better understand diseases and ultimately develop new treatments.

The UM School of Pharmacy established GlyCORE in 2020 with Phase 1 funding from NIH to support glycoscience research in the Mid-South.

"We are incredibly proud of the leadership of Dr. (Joshua) Sharp and the entire GlyCORE team for bringing together talented researchers from across disciplines to tackle complex problems that impact human health," said Donna Strum, dean of the School of Pharmacy.

"This grant reflects the power of collaboration to truly advance discovery and drive innovation that will make a real difference."

Ole Miss researchers plan to use the award to expand their expertise and build the center's research cores into a sustainable business model, said Joshua Sharp, director of GlyCORE, professor of pharmacology and joint professor of chemistry and biochemistry.

The initial funding of GlyCORE established three research cores of the organization: analytical and biophysical chemistry, imaging research, and computational chemistry and bioinformatics research. It also provided free support services for researchers in the fields.

GlyCORE is not focused on a specific disease state or biomedical technology like other NIH Centers of biomedical research excellence, Sharp said.

"Rather, we bring together people from a wide variety of disciplines to support each other through the unique difficulties of studying these highly challenging, yet highly important, molecules," he explained.

This allows GlyCORE to leverage the university's existing strengths such as natural products research and biomaterials with participants' interest in the field of glycoscience.

"This support helped many University of Mississippi faculty researchers establish national competitive programs in glycoscience that have led to external funding from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation to further their research," he said.

The new funding will support research project awards, which are three-year awards supporting new researchers. Its pilot project awards will provide one year of funding to help researchers obtain preliminary data necessary to prove the usefulness of new research ideas.

Paul Boudreau, assistant professor of pharmacognosy and research assistant professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, is among those whose research programs are supported by GlyCORE. He is studying fat-like molecules called glycosphingolipids that are produced by some bacteria.

Because some bacterial fats can activate the immune system, Boudreau's team hopes to determine whether the compounds could be useful as boosters to help vaccines work better by making the body's immune response stronger, he said.

"Additionally, GlyCORE support allowed me to recruit a new graduate student, Nathan Williams, who has joined the lab as a doctoral student," he said.

GlyCORE has previously supported research ranging from exploring the link between stress and addiction and targeting breast cancer with sugar-coated particles to new cancer drug delivery methods, among other topics.

The center supports interdisciplinary glycoscience across a variety of departments and schools at Ole Miss, including pharmacy, engineering, chemistry and biology. It also hosts events such as its annual Mid-Science Glycoscience Meeting, Glycoscience Seminar Series and training workshops and classes.

Participants from any department or discipline are welcome, Sharp said. Researchers wishing to learn more or take advantage of the resources are encouraged to visit GlyCORE's website.

"Ultimately, we seek to make the University of Mississippi internationally competitive in glycoscience, hosting multiple faculty members with extramural funding in glycoscience across a wide array of disciplines," Sharp said.

Top: GlyCORE has previously supported research at the university ranging from exploring the link between stress and addiction and targeting breast cancer with sugar-coated particles to new cancer drug delivery methods, among other topics. A new $10 million award from the National Institutes of Health promises to expand the work and help build the center's research cores into a sustainable business model. Photo illustration by Stefanie Goodwiller/University marketing and Communications