There is increasing recognition of the diverse roles and uses of glycans in biology and medicine. Yet Glycoscience has not gained much attention in the mainstream of biology, and is viewed as a niche research area with relatively few qualified researchers. While high school, undergraduate and graduate students learn about nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and metabolites, their competency in understanding the chemistry and biology of glycans is now conspicuously deficient. Also, compared to the NIH investments made to understand other major components of life, glycans have received very little attention.

This chasm needs to be addressed by training a new generation of biomedical researchers for whom glycans are an integral part of their mainstream thinking.

Texas Endowment is working toward bringing full Glycoscience curricula to all high schools, junior and community colleges and Universities across the United States and soon, globally.  Partnerships are being built to create GlycoScience clubs, scholarship programs, vocational training and integrating this “new” science into each and every science department by 2020.  We have our work cut out for us but we are dedicated to educating the next generation of researchers, scientists and medical teams fully equipped with the breakthrough technology of GlycoScience.