Professor Mark Farrell of the University of Kansas

"Strategies to study, manipulate, and decorate cell surface localized biomolecules"

The biomolecules present on a cell’s plasma membrane dictate cell-microenvironment and cell-cell interactions. In certain diseases the prevalence of biomolecules present on the plasma membrane can be alter dramatically. For example, the carbohydrates that decorate proteins and lipid are dramatically altered in cancer and can impact a cancer cells ability to evade the immune system or to metastasize. Our efforts have focused on studying and targeting cancer associated aberrant glycosylation. In this presentation, I will share our efforts to develop tools to study metastasis promoting high-mannose N-glycans, and how we have developed lectin-drug conjugates to specifically deliver cytotoxic payloads to cancer cells presenting elevated levels of high-high mannose N-glycans. Additionally, I will also discuss our efforts to decorate immune evasion promoting sialoglycans with ligands that enhance the susceptibility of cancer cells to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) expressing natural killer cells.