SFI UREKA Site in Molecular Recognition
Translating Design into Application

Biological Studies

Project 12:      Synthesis, Characterisation and Evaluation of Lectin and Carbohydrate Recognition Probes in the Marine Organism Hydractinia echinata

Supervisor:     Prof. Lokesh Joshi, National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science

Project Synopsis : All cell surfaces are coated with a carbohydrate layer or ’glycocalyx’. Lectins are sugar-binding proteins and are also present on the cell surface. Together, lectins and carbohydrates participate in cell-cell and cell-environment communication and are differentially expressed on the cell surface during development and differentiation. The Joshi lab, in collaboration with the Frank lab in the Martin Ryan Institute, is examining glycosylation and lectin expression in the marine organism Hydractinia echinata, which maintains a stem cell population throughout its life. Of particular interest are changes associated with differentiation of these cells. Plant lectins of known carbohydrate affinities will be used to associate glycosylation changes with specific structures or cell types within this organism. Two neoglycoconjugates will be synthesized to detect endogenous lectins in situ and their localization will be compared with that of polyclonal lectin antibodies to assess the functionality of known putative lectins. Additionally, the Joshi lab is involved in developing lectin-like molecules for detection of specific glycosylation and two of these molecules will be compared to their plant lectin counterparts. The aim of this project is to associate glycosylation and lectin expression with differentiating stem cells in Hydractinia.

The student will work in our lab and will be directly supervised by Dr. Michelle Kilcoyne, a senior research fellow in the group. The student will synthesise two neoglycoconjugates and immobilize two previously identified lectin-like molecules on a scaffold. The student will use the detection molecules that they have prepared, in addition with lectins and antibodies, to stain Hydractinia. They will assess their results using inverted and confocal fluorescence microscopy.

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