Deciphering the mucin glycocode by force spectroscopy

International Conference on Histochemistry & Cell Biology

September 14-15, 2016 Phoenix, USA

A Patrick Gunning

Institute of Food Research, UK

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Cytol Histol

Abstract :

Mucin plays a crucial role in maintaining cellular homeostasis along the entire length of the GI tract and several other epithelial surfaces. Mucin consists of a polypeptide backbone which is heavily substituted with a diverse array of glycans. This presentation will describe a methodology to characterize the inherent heterogeneity of mucin in a molecular level quantifiable manner in order to reveal information which may be encoded by the glycan distribution. Such information is termed â�?�?glycocodeâ�? and is believed to directly influence the outcome of the symbiotic relationship between the gut microbiota and the host in health and disease.

Biography :

A Patrick Gunning has completed his PhD from Glyndwr University, UK. He is the Manager of the Atomic Force Microscopy Facility at the Institute of Food Research (IFR), a public funded research institute. He has published more than 90 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as a member of the Scanning Probe Microscopy Section Committee of the Royal Microscopical Society.

Email: patrick.gunning@ifr.ac.uk