Abstract

Glycans are a fundamental class of macromolecules, yet their complexity and the difficulty in studying these molecules has led them to receive less attention. The molecular structure and composition characteristics of glycans represent an experimental challenge in their study. Regardless of the challenge of thier study, glycans remain fundamental to modulating intercellular communications including: probiotic, antibiotic, immune development, neuron migration and seemingly innumerable communications fundamental to multicellularity. In this project, I aim to increase the accessibility of this fundamental class of macromolecules. In aim 1, we begin by discussing the infant health impact of a single, unconjugated human milk oligosaccharide. Continuing in aim 2, we model the mechanisms of human milk oligosaccharide synthesis. Finally, in aim 3 we link our understanding of glycosylation to omics data by applying our mechanistic models of glycan biosynthesis to predict changes in glycan profiles from commonly available sequencing datasets.