Karin Hoffmeister is working hard to bring the field of glycoscience into mainstream research and clinical practice. The specialty field focuses on uncovering the structure and function of sugar molecules and their role in health and disease. Hoffmeister said the field receives little attention, but the research emerging from it could be critical when designing and testing new therapies for blood diseases.
“There is a specificity to sugar molecules that is absolutely phenomenal, but there was no understanding or consideration for them in the clinic 25 years ago,” said Hoffmeister, a senior investigator and director of the Translational Glycomics Center at Versiti. Scientists shy away from investigating sugar molecules because of their perceived complexity and, Hoffmeister said, because of the lack of education, research tools, and collaboration opportunities that would make the work appealing.
Dr. Hoffmeister, who also is a professor of biochemistry and medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin and associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, is determined to change that. As head of the Translational Glycomics Center, she is developing a human glycome database to understand how sugar molecules on the surface of hematopoietic cells function in both healthy and disease states. Under her leadership, the center focuses on innovative approaches to improving hematopoietic stem cell transplants and transfusions of blood platelets. She is also leader of the Translational Metabolomics (TraM) strategic initiative at MCW to increase scientific progress and impact in Wisconsin and nationwide, especially in glycomics and metabolomics. Dr. Hoffmeister is training the next generation of glycoscience investigators in her role as a program director and principal investigator of the first NHLBI National Career Development Consortium for Excellence in Glycoscience. The consortium is located at several sites and works to bridge glycosciences with today’s medical needs.