Lecture
Reedijk Symposium 2024: Understanding and exploiting epi-glycome active enzymes
- Date
- Friday 22 November 2024
- Time
- Location
-
Lecture Hall
Einsteinweg 57
2333 CC Leiden - Room
- C1
Abstract
Carbohydrates can be decorated post-translationally with a variety of functional groups that impact their function. Collectively this ‘epi-glycome’ exerts a significant influence on the functionality of the underlying carbohydrates. The presence of these groups can alter cell-to-cell communication and the susceptibility of cells to pathogen invasion. One such modification is the acetylation of sialic acid. Our group works at the interface of chemistry and biology to understand how this functional group is turned over and how we can use this mechanistic understanding to create new antivirals.
Biography
Zachary Armstrong is an Assistant Professor at the University of Leiden in the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, and he is a member of the Bio-Organic Synthesis division.
Zachary Armstrong was born in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, in 1988. He completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of British Columbia in 2009. This was followed by an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship supported PhD, co-supervised by Professor Stephen Withers and Professor Steven Hallam at the University of British Columbia. His PhD work focused on the identification of new glycoside hydrolases from metagenomes and the design of new biocatalysts for glycan synthesis. After receiving his PhD in 2018 he crossed the Atlantic to pursue a post-doctoral position at the University of York (York, UK) under the guidance of Professor Gideon Davies. While in York he focused on the structural and mechanistic investigation of biotechnology and disease relevant glycosidases with covalent probes and inhibitors. In 2021, Zachary joined the Bio-Organic Synthesis division of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, University of Leiden. In 2022 he was awarded a Veni Fellowship by the Dutch Research Council for research towards a new class of anti-viral therapeutics. Dr. Armstrong’s research spans the disciplines of Chemistry and Biology with particular focus on carbohydrate modifications and how they relate to both disease states and host-pathogen interactions. His research group focuses on the structural biology of modifying enzymes, developing new tools for profiling carbohydrate modifying enzymes and exploiting these tools to develop new therapeutics.