Construction and use of glycan microarrays

Glycosylation is an important post-translational modification that influences many biological processes critical for development, normal physiologic function, and diseases. Unfortunately, progress toward understanding the roles of glycans in biology has been slow due to the challenges of studying glycans and the proteins that interact with them. Glycan microarrays provide a high-throughput approach for the rapid analysis of carbohydrate-macromolecule interactions. Protocols detailed here are intended to help laboratories with basic familiarity of DNA or protein microarrays to begin printing and performing assays using glycan microarrays. Basic and advanced data processing are also detailed, along with strategies for improving reproducibility of data collected with glycan arrays. Curr. Protoc. Chem Biol. 2:37-53. © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.