Yann Guerardel

I am Senior Researcher (Directeur de Research) at CNRS in the Institute for Structural and Functional Glycobiology (UGSF) at the University of Lille.  I have a position of Professor in the newly created Institute for Glyco-core Research (iGCORE) associated with the Universities of Nagoya and Gifu in Japan. I am currently the Director of UGSF, UMR CNRS 8576 which has about 150 research and research support staff.

My research activity at the interface of biology and chemistry is called GlycoScience. It focuses in understanding the structure and functions of complex sugars, also called carbohydrates or glycans. Carbohydrates are the most abundant biological molecules on Earth and represent essential building blocks for life. They are not only the major compounds of the human diet and the main source of energy and biobased materials, but also key molecules involved in a multitude of biological processes and at the origin of many drugs. In this context, I am particularly interested in understanding how pathogenic microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi) use glycans from hosts (human or animal) to infect them.