We
study lectins, which are carbohydrate-binding proteins, found in all
living forms. Lectins are evolutionarily conserved proteins and they
play crucial roles in many biological processes. The lab also
investigates macromolecular recognition. There are four specific areas
of research in our lab. We study (1) the mechanistic basis of
endogenous lectin-mediated immune functions, (2) the structure-activity
relationship of microbial lectins and their implication in host
invasion, (3) macromolecular recognition by thermodynamic measurements
and (4) the nutritional aspects of plant lectins. The lab intends to
develop novel detection and separation devices using plant
lectins. Such devices would be useful for glycomics,
glycoproteomics and various bio-analytical and bio-detection techniques.
