A bank of Waters ACQUITY UPLC Systems in NIBRT’s analytical laboratory.

Improving characterization of glycans:
Waters' HILIC-UPLC chromatography combines with NIBRT's robust online glycan database

Waters and Ireland’s National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT), lead by Prof. Pauline Rudd, have developed a comprehensive solution to complex glycan analysis that combines NIBRT’s novel GlycoBase 3+ database with the unique capabilities of ACQUITY UPLC Systems and their application-optimized Glycan Separation Technology chemistries for HILIC-UPLC separations.

Prof. Pauline Rudd leads a reknowned glycobiology research group at NIBRT, where their research strategy is focused on the design, development, and optimization of bioprocesses for the safe and economic manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. Prof. Rudd’s research program also deals with biomarkers for disease, especially cancer, and the underlying mechanisms that result in glycosylation changes.

GlycoBase 3+ is a web-enabled proprietary resource that contains normalized retention data, expressed as Glucose Units, or GU values, for more than 600 2-AB labeled N-linked glycan structures. These values were obtained by systematic analysis of released glycans from a diverse set of glycoproteins using Waters HPLC and UPLC technologies and the NIBRT glycan analytical platform.

Following the introduction of Waters GlycoWorks™ RapiFluor-MS N-Glycan Kit, the GlycoBase 3+ database also now includes experimentally-derived glycan GU retention times for RapiFluor-MS labeled N-glycans.

What is GlycoBase 3+?

• GlycoBase 3+ consists of a number databases of glycans (both N- and O-linked) and where possible associated chromatographic data and biological contexts.
  

What's included?

• Published glycan database:
  • Contains glycans with published HPLC data
• Proprietary glycan database
  • Contains glycans whose associated data is both published and unpublished
  • Includes NIBRT proprietary data, containing glycans which have not yet been published which have been obtained from internal method development and research activities
  • Includes the UPLC database developed in association with Waters.

What does the NIBRT-Waters glycan database include?

• This database includes over 300 experimentally derived glycans from seven different biological samples: Human Serum, Erythropoietin, Invertase, Mouse IgG, Human IgG, Fetuin and Herceptin. 5.

How do I access GlycoBase 3+?

• Users can access GlycoBase 3+ by creating a user account on NIBRT's GlycoBase 3+ website.