'Shotgun' method allows scientists to dissect cells' sugar coatings

Sugar molecules coat every cell in our bodies and play critical roles in development and disease, yet the components of these "glycans" have been difficult for scientists to study, because of their complexity. Researchers now have adapted gene chip microarray technology to the study of glycans, with an approach they call "shotgun glycomics," a new chemical method for attaching a fluorescent dye to glycans purified from cells. The individual glycans are separated into tiny spots fixed to glass slides.

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