Speakers

Dr. Xi Chen is a Professor at the Department of Chemistry in the University of California-Davis. She received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from Xiamen University in 1994 and her Ph.D. degree in Biological/Organic Chemistry from Wayne State University in 2000. She worked at Neose Technologies, Inc. for two and a half years before joining the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis as an Assistant Professor in August 2003. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2008 and to Professor in 2011. 

Her research interests are at the interface of chemistry and biology with a focus on glycoscience. Her group strives to understand carbohydrate-related biological processes in the areas of cancer, inflammation, immunology, viral and bacterial infection. The current research focuses are: 1) developing chemoenzymatic approaches for synthesizing structurally defined complex glycans and glycoconjugates; 2) studying carbohydrate-protein/cell interactions and exploring the functions and the applications of carbohydrates; 3) collaborative crystal structure and mutagenesis studies of glycosyltransferases and other carbohydrate biosynthetic enzymes; and 4) designing and synthesizing sialidase substrates and inhibitors.

My scientific vision is to redefine how we understand virus–host interactions by uncovering the molecular features of viral engagement with host cell surface glycans. I aim to move the field beyond simplified receptor concepts toward a mechanistic and biologically relevant framework that explains viral host adaptation, antigenic evolution, and zoonotic emergence.

I am an Associate Professor in Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery at Utrecht University, where I lead an interdisciplinary research program integrating virology, glycobiology, structural biology, and chemical biology. My PhD training in virology and postdoctoral work at The Scripps Research Institute established a strong foundation in influenza virus glycoprotein biology and receptor specificity. These experiences shaped my long-term ambition to connect molecular recognition at the virus–glycan interface to viral evolution and immune escape at the organismal level.

My ERC Starting Grant enabled me to establish an independent research line that combined chemo-enzymatic glycan synthesis, glycan arrays, tissue binding assays, and structural approaches to reveal previously unrecognized principles of influenza virus receptor usage. Building on this foundation, my ERC Consolidator Grant research vision focuses on integrating receptor binding, antigenic drift, and immune pressure into a unified conceptual framework explaining influenza virus evolution across hosts and tissues. Through ERC Proof of Concept funding, I seek to translate fundamental discoveries into innovative tools and strategies that support antiviral development, vaccine design, and pandemic preparedness.

Looking ahead, my goal is to establish a globally leading research program that bridges chemistry and virology to deliver novel concepts on infectious disease research and public health.

Dr “Mandy” Lewis received her Ph.D. at the University of California San Diego where she studied the biochemical and genetic basis of capsular polysaccharide modifications in the neonatal pathogen Group B Streptococcus and was awarded the most outstanding dissertation in biology and chemistry in her graduating class. She remained at UC San Diego for postdoctoral training at the intersection of glycobiology and bacterial pathogenesis, later founding her own lab at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. At WashU, she built a research program connecting glycobiology, microbiology, and women's health. Since then, her research has been recognized by several faculty career awards and grants from the National Institutes of Health. She received tenure in the Molecular Microbiology department and was named a Distinguished Investigator at Washington University. In 2020, she returned to UC San Diego as a tenured Professor in the Department of Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Sciences. Dr Lewis became Co-Director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at UCSD in 2022. Her research seeks to define how members of the vaginal microbiota interact to produce features of disease in the urinary and genital systems, and in particular, how the biology of glycans may underpin these relationships.

I obtained my BSc in Biochemistry from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU, Spain) and completed my PhD in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine (2011–2015), where I developed a strong foundation in molecular and cellular biology. I subsequently pursued postdoctoral training at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids, Canada), focusing on the structural and functional characterization of B-cell surface receptors with immunotherapeutic potential.

In 2019, I joined CIC bioGUNE (Spain) as a Research Fellow and successfully completed a five-year tenure-track period (2019–2024). In 2024, I established my independent research group, the Cancer Glycoimmunology Lab. My laboratory is embedded within a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment with strong expertise in structural biology, immunology, and cancer research.

My research program aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms governing antibody and glycan-binding receptor function, with a particular focus on Siglec glycoimmune checkpoint receptors. By integrating structural biology, biophysical methods, and molecular engineering, my work dissects antibody–Siglec and glycan–Siglec interactions at atomic and mechanistic levels. This knowledge enables the rational development of next-generation therapeutic molecules, including engineered antibodies and glycan-based modulators. In parallel, my laboratory develops and characterizes antibodies targeting tumor-associated glycans, contributing directly to innovative cancer immunotherapy strategies.

Dr. Chun-Cheng Lin is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at National Tsing Hua University. He received his Ph.D. in bio-organic chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute in 1997. He began his independent research career as an Assistant Fellow at the Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, and joined National Tsing Hua University in 2006. He was promoted to Professor in 2007.

Dr. Lin’s research lies at the interface of synthetic organic chemistry, enzymology, and glycobiology, with a particular emphasis on the synthesis and functional study of structurally complex sialylated glycans. His laboratory has developed versatile chemical and chemoenzymatic strategies for the preparation of sialosides, ganglioside glycans, globo-series glycans, human milk oligosaccharides, and poly-N-acetyllactosamine-related structures. A central theme of his work is the creation of efficient glycosyltransferase-based synthetic platforms, including sugar nucleotide regeneration systems, sequential one-pot enzymatic synthesis, and protecting group-modulated regioselective glycosylation, to enable precise control over glycan sequence, linkage, and site selectivity.