복합당질에 관한 연구는 생명현상을 규명하는데 있어 중요한 연구이며, 생명현상 규명은 유전체및 단백질 연구에 이어 당질 관련 기능 연구에서 완성되므로 후게놈 시대의 핵심 바이오 분야라 할수 있다. 본 연구실은 효과적인 당쇄결합, 생체 중요 복합당질 합성, 단백질과의 상호작용등을 연구 하고 있다.
Carbohydrates have unique roles to play within living systems and actively control a whole range of biological processes including cell growth and differentiation. The special biological properties of carbohydrates can be partially attributed to the location of the carbohydrates within biological systems. Carbohydrates coat the majority of cell surface and secreted proteins, so the first interaction a cell has with its environment will involve carbohydrates.
Synthetic carbohydrate chemistry has to deal with two main problems, (i) the regio- and stereoselective formation of glycosidic linkages for the synthesis of oligosaccharides and (ii) the selective protection and deprotection of saccharide building blocks prior to and after the linkage step. Our research group has made an effort to solve these problems.