Glycan-based mucin models to better understand disease and guide biomaterial design
Official title: Modeling the mucosal glycopeptide mesh for improved disease understanding and mucin-inspired biomaterial design
Funded at Northeastern University · NIH-11381836 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A researcher is using computer models to study mucins, sugar-coated proteins, to learn how they work in diseases like cystic fibrosis and certain cancers, and to guide the design of new, friendly biomaterials.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Northeastern University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project start | September 20, 2023 |
| Project end | July 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $400,000 |
| NIH project number | 5R35GM151231-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11381836 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are patients with mucus-related diseases such as cystic fibrosis or mucin-driven cancers who may ultimately benefit from improved therapies or diagnostics.
✕Less likely to help
This research is foundational and may not directly benefit individual patients in the short term.
What this research studies
This project builds and improves computational tools to simulate mucin glycoproteins with realistic sugar patterns and charge. It creates interconnected mucin networks at multiple scales, from atomistic to coarse-grained, and uses data-driven methods to predict how changes in pH, glycosylation, and charge affect function. The goal is to reveal how mucins contribute to disease and how mucin-inspired materials could be designed for therapies. The work combines first-principles modeling, biophysics-based simulations, and machine learning to connect molecular details to bulk properties.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients could benefit from a deeper understanding of mucus-related diseases and from new biomaterials inspired by mucins that are biocompatible and potentially more effective.
How similar studies have gone: Previous glycan modeling efforts have shown that computational tools can reveal critical structure–function relationships in mucins, supporting further development in this area.
Where this research is happening
-
Northeastern University
Boston, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Chakraborty, Srirupa — Northeastern University
- Study coordinator: Chakraborty, Srirupa
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.