Objective
Sugar-Viro will create advanced glycoscience tools to address critical questions in H5Nx influenza A virus (IAV) biology, aiming to enhance surveillance, inform antiviral development, and contribute to the fight against IAV infections.
To initiate infection, respiratory pathogens like IAV must interact with complex carbohydrate structures, or glycans, present on the respiratory epithelium. However, virus-glycan interactions remain poorly understood due to the diversity, biosynthetic complexity, and multivalent presentation of host glycans. IAV, especially the H5Nx subtype, poses a continuous pandemic threat, recently spreading to a wider array of avian and mammalian hosts.
This project will develop an integrated approach to systematically analyze how H5Nx IAV engages with host glycans, providing a framework for understanding virus-glycan interactions. IAVs adapt to new hosts by acquiring amino acid mutations in the hemagglutinin (HA), which binds to sialic acid receptors, and neuraminidase (NA), which cleaves these receptors. These mutations shift receptor specificity and necessitate balancing receptor binding and cleavage activities.
My research will first characterize the glycome of the respiratory tracts of avian and mammalian hosts for H5Nx IAV, which will be a first (AIM 1a). This will inform the enzymatic synthesis of complex glycans, including both N- and O-linked glycan cores and glycolipids, going beyond the current state of the art (AIM 1b). Subsequently, I will conduct a detailed analysis of the glycan-binding properties of HA (AIM 2a) and NA (AIM 2b), by in depth binding analyses using complex glycans and novel tools to determine NA activity and specificity. To understand viral binding dynamics across species and tissue types, I will use multi-species, multi-organ tissue microarrays (AIM 3a) and assess glycan-specific functions in higher-order systems, including organoids (AIM 3b).
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases RNA viruses influenza
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics mutation
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules carbohydrates
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3584 CS Utrecht
Netherlands
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