The glycocalyx, the cell’s sugar coat, has key roles in immunology, cancer, viral infections, and more. Visualizing its molecular architecture was impossible until now. Here, we combine metabolic labelling with ångström-resolution fluorescence microscopy to visualize individual sugars within glycans on the cell surface, thus obtaining molecular-resolution images of the glycocalyx.
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References
Möckl, L. The emerging role of the mammalian glycocalyx in functional membrane organization and immune system regulation. Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 8, 253 (2020). A review article that discusses the role of the mammalian glycocalyx in functional membrane organization and immune system regulation.
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This is a summary of: Masullo, L. A. et al. Ångström-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans. Nat. Nanotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01966-5 (2025).
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Visualizing the nanostructure of the cell’s sugar coat. Nat. Nanotechnol. 20, 1363–1364 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01989-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01989-y