The ANR, by supporting the ANR GLYCOTARGET project, recognises the excellence and potential of the research carried out by our university.

The ANR GLYCOTARGET project is a project which brings together 5 national partners: Prof. S. Sagan, Coordinator (LBM, Paris Sorbonne University); Dr. S. Brézillon (MEDyC, UMR CNRS7369, URCA); Dr. C. Lopin-Bon (ICOA, Orléans); Dr. A. Joliot (CIRB, Collège de France); Prof. G.D. Sockalingum (BioSpecT, EA7506, URCA). The project lasts 42 months and will start on 01/02/2021.

Controlling the entry of molecules into cells is one of the main challenges for future therapies. The use of peptides endowed with cell-penetrating properties, to which the drug to be transported is attached, is a particularly attractive option and features among the innovative strategies envisaged. GLYCOTARGET proposes to develop peptides combining the specific targeting of enriched sulfated polysaccharides on the surface of certain cells, and cell penetration. These peptides will be useful in the future in nanomedicine, in particular for applications in oncology, since these sulfated polysaccharides ar markers for many types of cancer. The analysis of sulfated glycosaminoglycans by vibrational spectroscopy is an emerging technique mastered by the research laboratories BioSpecT EA7506 and MEDyC UMR CNRS 7369 at URCA. They have developed a unique and efficient strategy to quantitatively and qualitatively characterise the structures of glycosaminoglycans from a low number of cells, or even a single cell. The monitoring of the binding and endocytosis of peptides to surface glycosaminoglycans will be carried out at the micrometre scale by Raman micro-spectroscopy and confocal microscopy, and at the nanometre scale by infrared nano-spectroscopy.