The philosophy of the Ellervik group is focused on using carbohydrates in a smart way to reach biological goals, i.e. to intervene biosynthetic pathways and thereby use these for other purposes. 

The role of carbohydrates in biological systems is complex and carbohydrates are today known to be vital in highly sophisticated signaling and transportation systems. Most effort in synthetic carbohydrate chemistry today is directed towards knowledge about protein-carbohydrate interactions and design of specific inhibitors. However, our approach is instead to intervene the biosynthesis of natural compounds and use the transportation process in order to direct a drug to a specific cell type (e.g. tumor cells). In short, we would like to “hijack” the biosynthesis and use it for other purposes.

The Ellervik group external website