Alliance of Glycobiologists for Cancer Research

The Alliance of Glycobiologists for Cancer Research, a consortium of 10 Tumor Glycomics Laboratories, is working to understand how cancer-related dynamics of complex carbohydrates contributes to the initiation and progression of tumors. Insights gained from these studies will then lead to the development of new, validated clinical biomarkers for early detection of cancer. 

Mission

The mission of the Alliance is to study structure and function of glycans in relation to cancer development towards developing clinically useful biomarkers for the early detection of cancer by using a variety of approaches and technologies. This charge also requires extensive collaborations across institutions with different skills and facilities to accelerate glycan-based biomarkers to the forefront of NCI's efforts to detect and diagnose cancer at early stages.

The unique needs of the laboratories for technologies embracing carbohydrate chemistry are further supported by these programs: 

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Strategic Coordination (OSC) through the NIH Common Fund supports a major program in Glycoscience for the development of new technologies, tools, synthetic strategies, and informatics capabilities relevant to the specific needs of researchers in glycobiology;
   
• The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) supports the Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG);
   
• The NCI Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) with which the Alliance works closely to validate promising glycans for clinical use.

A Steering Committee (SC) representing all Tumor Glycomics Laboratories along with representatives from the partnering programs, and program staff from NCI integrates the activities of the Alliance.

Read more About the Alliance.