All cells use sugar, but a consequence of unbalanced sugar usage is disease through hexosamine sugar biosynthetic pathways. To precisely define the roles of hexosamine sugar-driven effects, we designed chemical tools sensitive for live-cell applications, for example our light-controlled photo-sugars and our cell compartment-specific “GlycoID” biorthogonal labeling strategy. These precision tools allow spatiotemporal dissection of glycan modifications involved in cell energy and signaling, enabling insight into opportunities for therapeutic intervention. We apply our chemical tools for nutrient sensing and signaling pathways to determine spatiotemporal signatures for how metabolism can drive disease and, more broadly, the energetics of our cells.
Biography
Charlie Fehl received a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Michigan in 2009 and a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Kansas in 2014, both in the US. After conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford on protein modification methodology development, he opened his independent research lab at Wayne State University in 2018 (Detroit, MI, USA). The Fehl Lab builds chemically-controlled tools for glycobiology studies, and seeks to train a new generation of chemical biology innovators.Ā
See a recording of the presentation below: