University of Georgia Receives $18 Million NSF Grant for Glycoscience Initiative

The University of Georgia (UGA) has been awarded a six-year, $18 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s BioFoundries program to establish the BioFoundry: Glycoscience Resources, Education And Training (BioFoundry: GREAT). The initiative aims to enhance awareness, knowledge, and participation in carbohydrate science, from K-12 education to advanced research.

Principal investigator Lance Wells, Distinguished Research Professor and Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator at UGA’s Complex Carbohydrate Research Center (CCRC), emphasized the importance of glycans, which are essential biomolecules alongside nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids. “Glycans are undertaught and understudied,” Wells said. “The goal of BioFoundry is to democratize glycobiology research and knowledge to advance the field.”

The grant will fund three key areas: resources, education, and training, all available through a new user facility at CCRC. This facility will provide services, tools, and training in glycoscience at no cost, provided the projects align with the initiative’s mission. It will also support short-term training residencies for clients in Athens.

Glycobiology has applications beyond medical life sciences, including biofuel production and the development of plant-based materials. The BioFoundry facility will offer high-end instrumentation, such as mass spectrometers and nuclear magnetic resonance machines, to facilitate research and training.

For more information about the CCRC and the new grant, visit the Office of Research website.

BioFoundry: GREAT is supported under NSF Grant No. 2400220. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.