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The role of lectins and glycoconjugates in various cellular processes is receiving increasing interest. Since many cellular glycoconjugates are ligands for lectins, they are used as efficacious tools in biochemistry and cell research. Lectins and Glycobiology provides all relevant techniques to investigate the structure and function of lectins and their various reactions. Included are methods for the preparation of synthetic carbohydrate ligands, the determination of physico-chemical properties of lectin-oligosaccharide interactions, the isolation and chemical modification of lectins, and assays to detect and quantitate lectins. Several chapters focus on the study of signal transduction and cellular responses induced by lectins as well as on cellular adhesion and cell recognition involving lectin-glycoprotein interaction. Further major topics are molecular biological techniques such as the use of recombinant or mutant lectin genes.
About the author
Hans-Joachim Gabius obtained his Ph.D. in 1982 at the Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen. After doing post-doctoral research from 1984-1985 in the group of S. H. Barondes at the UC San Diego, he was appointed first as assistant professor for biochemistry at the Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen (1987) and then as associate professor for pharmaceutical chemistry atthe University of Marburg (1991). Since 1993 he is heading the Institute for Physiological Chemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Munich. Prof. Gabius received numerous research awards including the Otto-Hahn-Medal (1983), the Award of the Dr. Carl-Duisberg-Foundation (1988) and the Award of the Paul-Martini-Foundation (1990). His research interests are focused on chemical, biophysical and biochemical analysis of protein - carbohydrate interactions with biomedical relevance, such as the development of glycoscientific strategies for tumor diagnosis and therapy and the elucidation of functions of mammalian lectins. His research led to a prominent placement in the ISI ranking of highly cited papers in 1998.
