Project Summary Carbohydrates are ubiquitous in nature. They are integrated in many important physiological and pathological events ranging from inflammation to microbial infections and tumor development. With the increasing appreciation of their critical functions, carbohydrate chemistry and glycobiology are exciting areas of active research at the frontiers of modern research. As glycoscience tool development lags behind recombinant protein expression and DNA amplification, understanding how carbohydrates are involved in important biological processes is much less advanced. Although significant advances have been achieved in various areas of carbohydrate research in the past two decades, there are still major gaps to be filled. The 2023 Carbohydrates Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will bring together experienced experts and emerging new/young investigators with diverse backgrounds and expertise, especially women and underrepresented minorities, to present frontier methods and dialog ideas for future directions focusing on Glycobiology, Glycochemistry and Glycomaterials for translational carbohydrate-based science. A special section of the GRC will be dedicated to the COVID19 pandemic with corresponding discussions aimed at further understanding of the role of glycans in this awful disease and the promising leads for glyco-therapeutics. Overall, the 4.5-day conference will feature 32 invited speakers, 13 discussion leaders and over 100 posters. This GRC conference is expected to draw 200 total participants. In conjunction with the GRC, the 2023 GRS will be a 1.5- day event dedicated to early career scientists, post-docs and graduate students including women and underrepresented minorities. Attendees of the GRS will participate in oral presentations, career panels, workshops, and poster presentations to aid in career developments. In addition to exciting cutting-edge science, the 2023 GRC and GRS will engage and integrate scientists with balanced gender and minority representation at different career stages from all over the world in a friendly environment with on-site meetings, open discussions, informal social interactions, and leisure activities. These will be extremely valuable in enhancing mutual understanding, fostering collaboration, and building up the camaraderie and sense of community to enable the carbohydrate field to collectively tackle some of the grand challenges facing human health and disease treatment/prevention.

Project Narrative The 2023 Carbohydrates GRC and GRS aim to integrate a diverse array of scientists, especially women and underrepresented minorities, to discuss frontier methods and developments. The main topic areas include complex carbohydrate synthesis, glycobiology, glycans in immunology; virology and bacteriology, as well as a special section dedicated to structural and therapeutic roles of glycans in COVID-19. The meetings will help foster networking and collaborations all-the-while promote diversity to advance the exciting field of glycoscience.