Jeroen Codee wins the Carbohydrate Research Award 2017
For his significant original contributions in the field of carbohydrate research, chemist Jeroen Codee will be awarded the biennial Carbohydrate Research Award for Creativity in Carbohydrate Chemistry.
The award
The award, established in 2001 by Elsevier's Carbohydrate Research journal, is presented to a carbohydrate scientist, no older than 15 years past the PhD, and who has made significant original contributions to the field, in its broadest sense.
The award will be presented to the winner at the 19th European Carbohydrate Symposium, Barcelona, Spain (2-6 July 2017) where Dr. Codée will present a plenary lecture.
Research
The diversity in oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates is enormous and small changes in the structure of (conjugated) carbohydrates can have a major impact on their biology and chemistry. Dr. Jeroen Codée and his research team focus their efforts on the effective assembly of biologically relevant oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates.
To accomplish this aim the laboratory develops synthetic methodology for stereoselective glycosylation reactions, effective protecting and functional group chemistries and automated solid phase synthesis procedures. The laboratory aims to gain deeper insight into the how structural differences affect their reactivity and mode of action at the molecular level.
A prominent example of the importance of carbohydrates is found in the immune system and Dr. Codee and his team are building synthetic molecules to modulate it. Similarly, they use synthesis complex probes to manipulate enzymes involved in the carbohydrate metabolism and catabolism.