Richard D. Cummings, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts
Dr. Richard Cummings is the S. Daniel Abraham Endowed Professor of Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Surgical Sciences, the Director of the NIH-funded National Center for Functional Glycomics (NCFG), Director of Harvard Medical School Center for Glycoscience, as well as an international leader in the field of glycobiology. Cummings' research aims to understand the structure and function of glycoconjugates in cell adhesion and signaling, studying the molecular and biochemical functions of surface and secreted glycoproteins in normal biological processes and disease.
Kelley Moremen, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
Dr. Kelley Moremen is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Georgia and is Associate Director for Commercialization for the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center (CCRC). Dr. Moremen has served as chair of the Glycobiology Gordon Research Conference and President, Board of Directors, and Secretary of the Society for Glycobiology. Research in the Moremen lab focuses on the structure, regulation, and localization of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis, recognition, and catabolism of mammalian glycoproteins.
Susan Bellis, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
Dr. Susan L. Bellis is a Professor in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, and the Alma B. Maxwell Endowed Chair, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Bellis received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Rhode Island in 1993, and conducted postdoctoral studies at SUNY Health Sciences Center in Syracuse, NY. She joined the faculty at UAB in 1998. Research in the Bellis laboratory focuses on the effects of N-glycan composition on the structure and function of cell surface receptors involved in neoplastic transformation. In particular, her group studies the role of α2,6 sialylation in modulating the activity of select growth factor receptors and death receptors. The addition of α2,6-linked sialic acids to N-glycans is mediated by the ST6GAL1 sialyltransferase, an enzyme known to be upregulated in numerous human malignancies. Using cell and organoid models, as well as mouse models with genetic overexpression or deletion of ST6GAL1, the Bellis group has shown that ST6GAL1 functions to promote both tumor-initiation and progression. Dr. Bellis' research has been supported by the NIH, Department of Defense, American Heart Association, and other agencies. Dr. Bellis is a member of the NCI-sponsored Alliance of Glycobiologists for Cancer Research. She is also the 2022 President Elect of the Society for Glycobiology.
Invited Speakers
Ben Swarts, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI
Dr. Ben Swarts completed a B.A. in Chemistry from the College of Wooster in 2004 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Wayne State University in 2010 under the supervision of Zhongwu Guo. He studied as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley with Carolyn Bertozzi until 2013. He is an associate professor at Central Michigan University where his lab develops chemical tools for investigating and targeting cell envelope components in mycobacteria, which include the pathogen that causes tuberculosis.
Qiang Zhang, Department of Chemistry, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, NY
Dr. Qiang Zhang completed a Ph.D. at Boston University in 2011 and studied as a postdoctoral fellow at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2012 until 2015. He is an associate professor of Chemistry at the University at Albany where he is currently the Principal Investigator of the Zhang Group with primary research interests including novel chemical methodology facilitated polypeptide; carbohydrate, and glycoprotein synthesis.
