All cells are coated with sugars but the functions of these sugar coatings were a mystery until very recently. This presentation will highlight recent fascinating discoveries regarding why cells are coated with sugars, as well as new tools for cancer detection that take advantage of the cells sugar coating.

Professor Bertozzis lab focuses on profiling changes in cell surface glycosylation associated with cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection, and exploiting this information for development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

In addition, her group develops nanoscience-based technologies for probing cell function and for medical diagnostics.