Puvirajesinghe, T.M., et al. Chem. Biol. 19, 553–558 (2012).

Natural sugars come in many varieties, which makes it difficult to sort out their biological activity. Puvirajesinghe et al. took the concept of a glycoarray, in which glycan libraries are spotted on a slide to screen for glycan-protein interactions, and adapted it to detect a functional readout of cell signaling. The group immobilized oriented glycans on aminosilane-coated glass slides and overlaid them with sulfate-deficient mouse fibroblasts in the presence of FGF2 ligand. Subsequent antibody staining and conventional imaging identified a downstream phosphorylation event that revealed which glycans promote FGF signaling. Using this functional glycomics approach, the group confirmed that two known heparin saccharides can activate the signaling pathway.