integrative glycoscience research instituteInstitute for Glyco-core Research, iGCORE, is a cutting-edge integrative glycoscience institutethat brings together researchers from two universities - Nagoya University and Gifu University with outstanding achievements in the fields of glycan synthesis, imaging, glycobiology, andglycomedicine. Through our research, iGCORE is committed to gaining a deeper understandingof the fundamental nature of life, ultimately paving the way for groundbreaking innovations inmedicine, such as personalized prevention and early detection of pre-disease.

NAGOYA
UNIVERSITY

GIFUGlycans in medicine / biology

Glycan synthesis / imaging

Our research aims to uncover the biological

Our strength lies in our ability

functions and medical uses of glycans,to synthesize complex glycans andwith the goal of developing novel applications

image individual glycan molecules

to improve human health.

with expertise.

UNIVERSITY

iGCORE is aiming to become a research center
that ranks among the world's leading research centers, with support fromthe Tokai National Higher Education and Research System.

1 iGCORE

MESSAGEfrom the Director

Kenji
Kadomatsu
Director, Institute for
Glyco-core Research (iGCORE)

Clarification of essence of glycans, hidden in their diverse nature,will provide novel knowledge for human beings
Throughout human history, humanity has confronted age-old questions such as "What is life?" and "What does it mean tobe alive?" Other questions such as "Why do people get sick?" and "How can we cure diseases?" also share a common
thread. I believe that intellectual curiosity, respect for nature, and love for other forms of life are the driving forces behindthe development of life sciences.
The mission of our institute is to promote research advancements on glycans, which play important roles in biologicalactivities. Various types of glycans exist in nature, embedded in almost all types of cell surfaces in our bodies and play
active roles in the boundary between cells and the outside world. Elucidating the roles of glycans, which differ fromthose of nucleic acids and proteins involved in several biological processes, will open up new horizons in life sciences.
Amazingly, glycans are highly adaptable to variable external environments. Our pioneering research on glycans has led
the world in clarifying the importance of glycans in life, but we are still far from complete understanding thephenomenon of biological life through the complexities found in glycans. As it becomes increasingly clear that the worldof glycans is profound and complex, scientists are learning more about the importance of characterizing and analyzing
the mysterious world of glycans across disciplines. With the establishment of the Tokai National Higher Education andResearch System, THERS, we have gathered high-caliber researchers who can make it happen. The dual currents,
involving cutting-edge research and integrating knowledge across disciplines, are a key thrust for the development ofglycan research, like a great river flowing into the ocean. Our focus on exploring the function and potential of glycans at
the molecular, cellular, and individual levels will help uncover the essence of glycans in diversity and complexities andbuild a collective pool of knowledge that will contribute to human well-being.

iGCORE

2

ABOUT iGCORE
Glycans (sugar chains), which cover all the cells

Causative molecule for
Alzheimer's disease

Virus
Bacterium

Glycanin our body, determine the characteristics ofeach cell, regulate intercellular communicationand recognize extracellular substances (such asneighboring cells, pathogens, etc.). Therefore,glycans play crucial roles in many physiological

Cell

Immune cell

phenomena and diseases, including immunity,neural functions, aging, infection, tumor, andGigantic glycan

dementia. For instance, application ofglycoscience (research on glycans) to modern
medicine is exemplified by the effectiveness ofNerve regeneration
Immunity

Fertilization

Infectious disease
Dementia

Tumor

glycan-targeted drugs such as Tamiflu and100-fold increase in the efficacy of antibody
therapy for cancer treatment, etc. through themodification of glycans.
Although it has been revealed that glycans are
involved in various physiological andpathological phenomena, glycoscience research
has not advanced enough in the world.
Therefore, in order to advance ourunderstanding of the nature and essence ofliving systems and make progress in theapplications of life science research for humanhealth, it is necessary to promote glycoscience
research.

Glycans are currently not fully understood forthe following three major reasons: (1) the higher
complexity and structural diversity of glycans
compared to nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) andproteins require highly specialized techniques
for synthesis, analysis and biology of glycans;(2) the non-existence of an integrative research
center which can bring together the findings
from different glycoscience studies to help
understand the whole picture; and (3) noresearch has been done to obtain and analyze
glycan big data (glycomics) as in the case ofgenomics and proteomics.
The “Institute for Glyco-core Research(iGCORE)” is a state-of-the-art integrative
glycoscience research institute, bringing
scientists together from various disciplines andexpertise, including chemistry, biochemistry,
medicine and imaging. Research conducted at
this institute will help to elucidate the functions
and physical properties of glycans as well as theproperties of assembled glycans. Throughintegrating the different components ofglycoscience research, we aim to more fully
understand the true nature of life core, which
has not been accomplished by research onnucleic acids and proteins alone.

3 iGCOREORGANIZATION
CHART【iGMED】
Integrated
Glyco-BioMedical
Research CenterCenter Director

Chihiro Sato【iGDATA】

糖鎖分子科学
Integrated研究センター
Glycan-BigData

木塚康彦
KenjiKadomatsu【iGMOL】
IntegratedGlyco-MolecularScience Research Center

Vice-Director

Vice-Director

Kenji Kadomatsu

Hiromune Ando

Chihiro Sato

Molecular Physiology Division

Division Head

Tetsuya Okajima

Bioregulation of Cell and Organism Division

Chihiro Sato

Hiroaki Wake

Kenji Kadomatsu

Masahiko Hibi

Hiroshi Abe

Yu Nakagawa

Masashi Ikeda

Koji Yamanaka

Takayuki Uchihashi

Kwok Kei Mak

Masahisa Katsuno

Norio Ozaki

Atsunori Oshima

Yuji Kondo

Yutaka Kondo

Kazuma Sakamoto

Tomoo Ogi

Yuko Tashima

Hiroshi Suzuki

Fumitaka Osakada

Takahiro Shibata

Masaya Hane

Midori Shimada

Kaori Kawai

Division Head

Systems Biology Division
糖鎖分子科学部門Division
部門長
HeadYusuke
Matsui鈴木 健一

Structural Analysis Division
研究基盤部門Ryuji KatoTakaya
安藤 弘宗
Arita 矢部 富雄
二上 英樹
Motonori
木塚 康彦
Ota 中嶋 和紀
Rebeca Kawahara Sakuma
武藤 吉徳
Kensaku
藤田 盛久Mori 今村 彰宏
Hisatoshi Hanamatsu
須賀 晴久
田中 秀則
Nobuaki Miura
MortenYann GUERARDEL
Thaysen-Andersen
高島 茂雄
Shiori GoHiroyuki
石田 秀治
Kaji 河村 奈緒子
下澤 伸行
松本 顕治郎Bingyuan Zhang
Kiyoko池田 将
F Kinoshita
部門長
Division HeadAkihiro FujitaJennifer
岡 夏央 J Kohler
Yann Guérardel
田中香お里
Jun-ichi Furukawa Chengcheng Huang

Glyco-Molecular Science Division

Yasuhiko Kizuka

ResearchPromotion
OfficeDivision HeadKazuki
Nakajima
鎌足雄司
YuichiAbe後藤隆次
林 将大

堀井 有希

Cooperative Research Facility Division

Hiromune Ando Tomio Yabe

Hideki Nikami

Yasuhiko Kizuka Akihiro Imamura

Haruhisa Suga

Morihisa Fujita

Kazuki Nakajima

Shigeo Takashima

Yann Guérardel

Hide-Nori Tanaka

Yuji O. Kamatari

Hideharu Ishida Yuichi Abe
Center Director

Hiroyoshi Nishikawa Di Wu

Ken Kitajima

Yoshikatsu Matsubayashi

Centerセンター長Center DirectorDirector

Masato Ikeda

Naoko Komura

Kenichi G.N. Suzuki Natsuhisa Oka Kenjiroo Matsumoto

ManagerJunHirabayashi

Faculty Members: 74, Researchers・Technical staﬀ, etc. : 59

Takatsugu Goto
Division HeadMasahiro Hayashi

Kaori Tanaka

Strategy Planning Group Yutaka Nibu / Yuichi Abe / Shinji Ito / Shinji Go / Yoriko Miyake
Globalization Group Ken Kitajima / Kiyoko F Kinoshita / Akihiro Fujita
Support and Promotion Group Fumihiro Shinoda / Kwok Kei Mak / Nobuaki MiuraiGCORE

4RESEARCH
Understanding the core of life
Our research goal at iGCORE is to understandthe functions of glycan assemblies which
consist of complex and diverse glycans(glycoproteins and glycolipids) and reveal new
principles underpinning all living systems. The
eventual aim is to apply the insights from ourresearch findings to facilitate the advancementof innovative medicine.
Our recent notable achievements include:

Elucidation of novel functions of Glycans
in nervous system
We have discovered new functions of glycans such as proteoglycans andpolysialic acid in nerves. We are aiming to apply glycans to therapeuticand other applications.(Sakamoto et al., Nat. Chem. Biol., 2019, Sato etal. Mol Aspects Med. 2021, etc.)

Elucidation of glycan functions bydetermining the structure of glycan
We have developed a new comprehensive method for glycomic analysisof total cellular glycans using MS, which allows for detection of glycanchanges in various samples.
We have discovered new glycan changes in the differentiation andactivation of immune cells and in various diseases through comprehensive
glycan analysis.(Hanamatsu et al., J Chromatogr A. 2023, Kawahara etal. PNAS, 2023 etc.)

Establishment of novel methods for chemicalsynthesis of glycans
We have recently developed a new innovative method for chemical
synthesis of sialylated glycans.
We also develop novel glycan probes by labeling glycans withfluorescence or search for new glycan binding molecules. Using theseprobes, we visualize the dynamics of a single glycan in cell membrane.
(Komura et al, Science, 2019, K. G. N. Suzuki, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 2023 etc.)

Understanding, prediction and remodelingof glycan biosynthesis and function
We focus on glycan-biosynthetic enzymes (glycosyltransferases) andaim to elucidate the mechanisms of their reactions and regulation using
biochemical and genetic approaches. We also integrate glycosyltranasferase
data to predict and remodel cellular glycan structures.
(Hirata et al, iScience, 2022, Yi-Shi Liu et al, J. Cell Biol., 2023 etc.)
5 iGCORE

Joint Usage / Research Center :Glyco Science Cooperative Network (J-GlycoNet)
J-GlycoNet is the world's unique integrated glyco-research institution is composed of an exclusive
combination of resources from iGCORE, ExCELLS (National Institutes of Natural Sciences) and GaLSIC (SokaUniversity). iGCORE covers comprehensive glycoscience including a wide range of research capability fromthe molecular to the organismal level. ExCELLS features in advanced glyco-structural biology. GaLSIC offers
a combination of glyco-bioscience with informatic science. Thus J-GlycoNet is dedicated to advance glycan
research by planning integrated and multidisciplinary research and by executing the plans among these threeinstitutions.

Human Glycome Atlas
Project (HGA)

Understanding life by deciphering
the information of glycans

We will build TOHSA: A knowledge base thatcomprehensively acquires information on all
forms of glycans present in the human body,the relationship between disease and glycans,and the mechanisms by which glycans aresynthesized, and that information can be usedby people around the world.
This will be widely applied in the research andmedical fields, and will be utilized for the true
understanding of the mechanism of life andthe development of innovative treatment andpreventive methods.

iGCORE6

thers iGCORE

https://igcore.thers.ac.jp/en/
J-GlycoNet

https://j-glyconet.jp/en/
Human Glycome Atlas Project

HGA

https://human-glycome-atlas.org/en/

Institute for Glyco-core Research (iGCORE), Nagoya University,Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, JapanE-mail : igcore@t.thers.ac.jp
Institute for Glyco-core Research (iGCORE), Gifu University,
1-1 Yanagido, Gifu City 501-1193, Japan
E-mail: igcore@t.gifu-u.ac.jp
July 2024 edition