IRTG 1549 - Molecular and Cellular Glyco-Sciences (MCGS). Understanding Structure/Function Relationships of Carbohydrate/Protein-Interactions (MCGS)

Basic data for this project

Description

Carbohydrate-containing biomolecules are increasingly recognized as information-bearing molecules with highly important signaling and regulatory functions within and between cells and organisms. Many of these are due to direct interactions of the respective carbohydrates with cellular proteins, such as receptors or enzymes. Molecular and biochemical aspects of such carbohydrate/protein-interactions in the cellular context are being characterized in detail by our Indo-German International Research Training Group on MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR GLYCO-SCIENCES (MCGS). The focus is on structure/function-relationships, i.e. on elucidating the structural requirements responsible for the interaction of glycans with their target proteins. The German groups are focusing on the analytical and functional aspects of the carbohydrate moieties (e.g. identifying potential protein binding domains of glycans), while the Indian groups are mainly dealing with the protein aspects (e.g. identifying potential carbohydrate binding sites of specific agglutinins). Each doctoral project is jointly investigated by an Indian and a German group. This creates a basic understanding of structure/function-relationships at a molecular level and, thus, will allow us to eventually develop, validate, and apply the tools needed to exploit the biotechnological potential of glyco-structures for novel knowledge-driven applications.MCGS convenes a group of internationally recognized research teams from biology, chemistry, and medicine, initiating an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach for the doctoral candidates' training and education. MCGS accepts candidates with different degrees such as Bachelor, Master, Diplom, or federal exam, in different disciplines of natural and life sciences, including applied sciences such as biotechnology, pharmacy, medicine, pharmacology, agriculture, veterinary, food, and material sciences, from a competitive pool of international applicants. The MCGS study programm offers a basic Lecture cum Seminar on glyco-sciences, and three-weeks Summer and Winter Schools followed by one week Excursions, individual Technical Workshops and a range of Enabling Skills Workshops. MCGS organises bi-annual MCGS Network Symposia. MCGS comprises ca. 40 doctoral candidates and post-doctoral researchers advised by ca. 20 scientists, with half of the candidates and scientists from Germany, half from India.