Will learn to interpret the immune system’s sugar signals

In recent decades, researchers have learnt an enormous amount about how our immune system works, but one thing remains: understanding how immune cells communicate with sugar molecules on their surface. Wallenberg Academy Fellow Alexandra Stubelius will now learn to interpret this language, which has long been hidden from us.

Modern genetic engineering has revolutionized our understanding of the body. However, the molecular biology methods developed by researchers have so far been limited in their ability to map glycans, which are complex chains of sugar molecules. Cells and proteins carry them on their surface, and they are important for cells’ communication.

Dr Alexandra Stubelius at the Chalmers University of Technology will develop advanced methods and modelling systems that allow real-time monitoring of our immune system’s glycans. These are dynamic, so they are constantly being shaped and changed. Alexandra Stubelius’ aim is to understand how these changes govern the immune cells’ activity. For example, how do glycans influence whether immune cells decide to attack an invading microbe?

More detailed knowledge about glycans’ role in the immune system could lead to more effective cancer immunotherapies and treatments for autoimmune diseases. It may also lead to new strategies for preventing the body from rejecting transplanted organs. 

Photo: Patrik Lundin