October 3rd is 'Glycan Day' ~ Bringing glycans closer to you! ~

In the Institute for Glyco-core Research (iGCORE), a collaborative research hub between Gifu University and Nagoya University, researchers, research administrators, and administrative staff are working together to promote glycan research and broaden knowledge about glycans. 'October 3rd' has been recognized as 'Glycan Day' by the Japan Anniversary Association. Taking this opportunity, Gifu University and Nagoya University will further accelerate glycoscience research and continue to emphasize the importance of glycans, and make glycans widely known to the public.

Background of the Establishment of 'Glycan Day'

Glycans cover the surface of all our cells, determining the individuality of each cell and controlling communication between cells and the external environment (such as other cells and pathogens). Therefore, they are closely involved in many biological phenomena and diseases, particularly immune and neural functions, aging, infections, cancer, and dementia. Furthermore, it has been found that glycan-targeted drugs, such as Tamiflu, are quite effective, and the effectiveness of antibody drugs used in cancer treatment can be increased by about 100 times by altering glycans. This indicates that glycoscience research can be applied to medical treatments. iGCORE is a unique, integrated glycoscience research hub that brings together world-class researchers from diverse fields, including glycan synthesis and glycan imaging (Gifu University), glycobiology and glycan-targeted medicine (Nagoya University), as well as structural analysis and mathematical modeling and informatic analyses of glycan. Close collaboration between the two universities has been spearheading glycoscience research worldwide. To make glycans ('tōsa' in Japanese) more familiar, iGCORE has designated 'October 3rd' as a 'Glycan Day,' based on the wordplay of 10 ('tō') and 3 ('sa'). We continue to raise people's awareness about glycoscience research and widely publicize the benefits of glycans to the public.

Main Activities of iGCORE

Since April 2022, iGCORE has formed the 'J-GlycoNet' in collaboration with other institutions to support interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers both at home and abroad. It has been recognized as a joint usage/research center by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. In April 2023, iGCORE launched the 'Human Glycome Atlas Project (HGA)' under MEXT's 'Projects to Promote Large Scientific Frontiers,' marking the first initiative in the life science field with an all-Japan framework. In this project, with support from the Tokai National Higher Education and Research System's Research Hub Collaboration Support Project, Gifu University and Nagoya University are cooperating to establish a world-class glycan research center.