The role sugars and carbohydrates play in viruses and vaccines
Updated / Thursday, 15 Apr 2021
14:19 We have seen with SARS-CoV2 that vaccines have emerged based on this virus s spike protein, which is key to viral infection.
Analysis: The pattern of large groups of carbohydrates, often referred to as glycans, represents a special sugar code that cells use to talk to each other, but this is often exploited by invaders such as viruses.
By Liam Fitzgerald and Prof Paul Murphy, NUI Galway
For most people sugars and carbohydrates are nothing more than an additive in their tea or the bread in their sandwich, however the importance this family of molecules cannot be understated.