Scientific foundation, applied innovation
Our research background supports everything we develop, from synthetic strategies and analytical methods to proprietary technologies
At Asparia Glycomics, research is part of our daily practice — from scientific publications and collaborative projects to patented technologies.
Our commitment to glycoscience is reflected in both our analytical services and our contribution to the field’s advancement.
R&D projects
Asparia Glycomics is constantly pushing the limits
In the development of new tools for glycan analysis and glycobiology, both by client-funded contract research as well as through internal development programs. We collaborate with international research centers and companies and are open to participation in EU-funded research consortia in the areas of glycan biomarker development, personalized medicine, microarray technology, glycoconjugate vaccines, and vector glycoengineering. Please contact our Scientific Director Niels Reichardt for inquiries.
Idimo Research Project
Idimo addresses the assessment of the regulatory framework in the initial phase, considering risks throughout the product life cycle, and defining safety and performance requirements. It seeks to develop prototypes and validate biomaterials and monitoring systems, ensuring compliance.
Several leading companies in the sector are participating in Idimo, such as i+Med, AJL, Tecnalia Certificaciones, Createch, Ekolber, IMG Pharma, Innoprot and P4Q.
Idimo is developed within the Hazitek 2023 framework, for the support of business R&D, supported by the Basque Government and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund 2014-2020 (ERDF).
Our proprietary technology
CarboQuant standards — expanding the possibilities of glycan quantification
At Asparia, we don’t just apply analytical techniques — we create them.
CarboQuant is our patented technology for improving the accuracy, reproducibility and consistency of glycan quantification in complex samples.
Developed in-house and integrated into our workflows, it allows us to reach levels of precision that set a new standard in quantitative glycomics.
Funding
Asparia Glycomics is grateful for competitive research funding and support from the following institutions and organizations
Biotechnology incubator BIC Guipuzcoa.
Publications
A selection of our most relevant scientific publications that form the basis of Asparia Glycomics technology and capacities
Custom synthesis: Oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates
García-García A, Serna S, Yang Z, Delso I, Taleb V, Hicks T, et al. FUT8-directed core fucosylation of N-glycans is regulated by the glycan structure and protein environment. ACS Catal. 2021;11(15):9052–65.
García-García A, Ceballos-Laita L, Serna S, Artschwager R, Reichardt NC, Corzana F, et al. Structural basis for substrate specificity and catalysis of α1,6-fucosyltransferase. Nat Commun. 2020;11(1):973.
Benedé S, Ramos-Soriano J, Palomares F, Losada J, Mascaraque A, López-Rodríguez JC, et al. Peptide glycodendrimers as potential vaccines for Olive pollen allergy. Mol Pharm. 2020;17(3):827–36.
Pham J, Hernandez A, Cioce A, Achilli S, Goti G, Vivès C, et al. Chemo-enzymatic synthesis of S. mansoni O-glycans and their evaluation as ligands for C-type lectin receptors MGL, DC-SIGN, and DC-SIGNR. Chemistry. 2020;26(56):12818–30.
Echeverria B, Serna S, Achilli S, Vivès C, Pham J, Thépaut M, et al. Chemoenzymatic synthesis of N-glycan positional isomers and evidence for branch selective binding by monoclonal antibodies and human C-type lectin receptors. ACS Chem Biol. 2018;13(8):2269–79.
Brzezicka K, Echeverria B, Serna S, van Diepen A, Hokke CH, Reichardt N-C. Synthesis and microarray-assisted binding studies of core xylose and fucose containing N-glycans. ACS Chem Biol. 2015;10(5):1290–302.
Guedes N, Kopitzki S, Echeverria B, Pazos R, Elosegui E, Calvo J, et al. Solid-phase assembly of glycosaminoglycan oligosaccharide precursors. RSC Adv. 2015;5(13):9325–7.
Echeverria B, Etxebarria J, Ruiz N, Hernandez Á, Calvo J, Haberger M, et al. Chemo-enzymatic synthesis of (13)C labeled complex N-glycans as internal standards for the absolute glycan quantification by mass spectrometry. Anal Chem. 2015;87(22):11460–7.
Guedes N, Czechura P, Echeverria B, Ruiz A, Michelena O, Martin-Lomas M, et al. Toward the solid-phase synthesis of heparan sulfate oligosaccharides: evaluation of iduronic acid and idose building blocks. J Org Chem. 2013;78(14):6911–34.
Yan 闫石 S, Serna S, Reichardt N-C, Paschinger K, Wilson IBH. Array-assisted characterization of a fucosyltransferase required for the biosynthesis of complex core modifications of nematode N-glycans. J Biol Chem. 2013;288(29):21015–28.
Czechura P, Guedes N, Kopitzki S, Vazquez N, Martin-Lomas M, Reichardt N-C. A new linker for solid-phase synthesis of heparan sulfate precursors by sequential assembly of monosaccharide building blocks. Chem Commun (Camb). 2011;47(8):2390–2.
Serna S, Etxebarria J, Ruiz N, Martin-Lomas M, Reichardt N-C. Construction of N-glycan microarrays by using modular synthesis and on-chip nanoscale enzymatic glycosylation. Chemistry. 2010;16(44):13163–75.Serna S, Kardak B, Reichardt N-C, Martin-Lomas M. Synthesis of a core trisaccharide building block for the assembly of N-glycan neoconjugates.Tetrahedron Asymmetry. 2009;20(6–8):851–6.
Glycan analysis: SIL standards quantification, antibody profiling and allergies
Álvarez J, Parody N, Calzada D, Aranda T, Renshaw A, Serna S, et al. Correlation between N-glycan GnGnXF3 and the allergic immune response against Juniperus ashei pollen. Allergy. 2025.
Nascimento KS, Pinto-Junior VR, Oliveira MV, Osterne VJS, Lossio CF, Sacramento-Neto JC, et al. Novel LacdiNAc-specific lectin from Dioclea reflexa seeds exhibits inflammatory and hypernociceptive properties. Int J Biol Macromol. 2025;309(Pt 3):142868.
Navarro-Lleó N, Ramírez-Cárdenas J, Paredes-Martínez F, Serna S, Gozalbo-Rovira R, Muñoz-García JC, et al. Deciphering the role of histo-blood group antigens in bovine rotavirus C infection. bioRxiv. 2025. p. 2025.03.10.642353.
Osterne VJS, Lima LD, Oliveira MV, Pinto-Junior VR, Neto CC, Correia SEG, et al. Novel lectins from Bauhinia with differential N-glycan binding profiles. ACS Omega. 2025;10(15):15637–45.
Serna S, Comino N, Reichardt NC, López-Gallego F. Preparative isolation of N-glycans from natural sources mediated by a deglycosylating heterogeneous biocatalyst in flow. ChemSusChem. 2025;18(10): e202402346.
Atxabal U, Fernández A, Moure MJ, Sobczak K, Nycholat C, Almeida-Marrero V, et al. Quantifying Siglec-sialylated ligand interactions: a versatile 19F-T2 CPMG filtered competitive NMR displacement assay. Chem Sci. 2024. 15(27):10612–24.
Alvarez J, Aranda T, Ruiz R, Aramendia L, Reichardt N-C, Carnes J. N-glycans other than MUXF3 are targets for specific IgE antibodies against Juniperus ashei pollen allergens. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2023;151(2):AB212.
Krammer E-M, Bridot C, Serna S, Echeverria B, Semwal S, Roubinet B, et al. Structural insights into a cooperative switch between one and two FimH bacterial adhesins binding pauci- and high-mannose type N-glycan receptors. J Biol Chem. 2023;299(5):104627.
Lossio CF, Osterne VJS, Pinto-Junior VR, Chen S, Oliveira MV, Verduijn J, et al. Structural analysis and characterization of an antiproliferative lectin from Canavalia villosa seeds. Int J Mol Sci. 2023;24(21):15966.
Osterne VJS, Oliveira MV, De Schutter K, Serna S, Reichardt N-C, Smagghe G, et al. A galactoside-specific Dalbergieae legume lectin from seeds of Vataireopsis araroba (Aguiar) Ducke. Glycoconj J. 2023;40(1):85–95.
Toribio V, Yáñez-Mó M. Two complementary strategies to quantitate extracellular vesicle uptake using bioluminescence and non-lipidic dyes. Methods Mol Biol. 2023;2668:133–44.
Bertuzzi S, Peccati F, Serna S, Artschwager R, Notova S, Thépaut M, et al. Immobilization of biantennary N-glycans leads to branch specific Epitope recognition by LSECtin. ACS Cent Sci. 2022;8(10):1415–23.
Clos-Sansalvador M, Garcia SG, Morón-Font M, Williams C, Reichardt N-C, Falcón-Pérez JM, et al. N-glycans in immortalized mesenchymal stromal cell-derived extracellular vesicles are critical for EV-cell interaction and functional activation of endothelial cells. Int J Mol Sci. 2022;23(17):9539.
Huettner I, Krumm SA, Serna S, Brzezicka K, Monaco S, Walpole S, et al. Cross-reactivity of glycan-reactive HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies with parasite glycans. Cell Rep. 2022;38(13):110611.
Oliveira MV, Osterne VJS, Lossio CF, Serna S, Reichardt NC, Nascimento KS, et al. Purification and characterization of a highly thermostable GlcNAc-binding lectin from Collaea speciosa seeds. Int J Biol Macromol. 2021;193(Pt B):1562–71.
Robakiewicz S, Bridot C, Serna S, Gimeno A, Echeverria B, Delgado S, et al. Minimal epitope for Mannitou IgM on paucimannose-carrying glycoproteins. Glycobiology. 2021;31(8):1005–17.
De Leoz MLA, Duewer DL, Fung A, Liu L, Yau HK, Potter O, et al. NIST interlaboratory study on glycosylation analysis of monoclonal antibodies: Comparison of results from diverse analytical methods. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2020;19(1):11–30.
Toribio V, Morales S, López-Martín S, Cardeñes B, Cabañas C, Yáñez-Mó M. Development of a quantitative method to measure EV uptake. Sci Rep. 2019; 9(1):10522.
Aizpurua-Olaizola O, Sastre Toraño J, Falcon-Perez JM, Williams C, Reichardt N, Boons G-J. Mass spectrometry for glycan biomarker discovery. Trends Analyt Chem. 2018;100:7–14.
Synthesis of 1,3,4,6-Tetra-O-Acetyl-2-Azido-2-Deoxy- α,β-d-Glucopyranose and 2-Azido-4,6-O-Benzylidene-2- Deoxy-α,β-d-Glucopyranose. En: Carbohydrate Chemistry. CRC Press; 2016. p. 237–44.
Castillo-Acosta VM, Ruiz-Pérez LM, Etxebarria J, Reichardt NC, Navarro M, Igarashi Y, et al. Carbohydrate-binding non-peptidic pradimicins for the treatment of acute sleeping sickness in Murine models. PLoS Pathog. 2016;12(9):e1005851.
Etxebarria J, Reichardt N-C. Methods for the absolute quantification of N-glycan biomarkers. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016;1860(8):1676–87.
Beloqui A, Calvo J, Serna S, Yan S, Wilson IBH, Martin-Lomas M, et al. Analysis of microarrays by MALDI-TOF MS. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2013;52(29):7477–81.
Ribeiro-Viana R, García-Vallejo JJ, Collado D, Pérez-Inestrosa E, Bloem K, van Kooyk Y, et al. BODIPY-labeled DC-SIGN-targeting glycodendrons efficiently internalize and route to lysosomes in human dendritic cells. Biomacromolecules. 2012;13(10):3209–19.
Czechura P, Guedes N, Kopitzki S, Vazquez N, Martin-Lomas M, Reichardt N-C. A new linker for solid-phase synthesis of heparan sulfate precursors by sequential assembly of monosaccharide building blocks. Chem Commun (Camb). 2011;47(8):2390–2.
Lectin array technology
Williams C, Royo F, Aizpurua-Olaizola O, Pazos R, Boons G-J, Reichardt N-C, et al. Glycosylation of extracellular vesicles: current knowledge, tools and clinical perspectives. J Extracell Vesicles. 2018;7(1):1442985
Pazos R, Echevarria J, Hernandez A, Reichardt N-C. Lectin-array blotting. Curr Protoc Cell Biol. 2017;76(1):6.12.1-6.12.12.
Brzezicka K, Vogel U, Serna S, Johannssen T, Lepenies B, Reichardt N-C. Influence of core β-1,2-xylosylation on glycoprotein recognition by Murine C-type lectin receptors and its impact on dendritic cell targeting. ACS Chem Biol. 2016;11(8):2347–56.
Etxebarria J, Calvo J, Martin-Lomas M, Reichardt N-C. Lectin-array blotting: profiling protein glycosylation in complex mixtures. ACS Chem Biol. 2012;7(10):1729–37.
Echevarria J, Royo F, Pazos R, Salazar L, Falcon-Perez JM, Reichardt N-C. Microarray-based identification of lectins for the purification of human urinary extracellular vesicles directly from urine samples. Chembiochem. 2014;15(11):1621–6.
Glycan array technology
Serna S, Artschwager R, Pérez-Martínez D, Lopez R, Reichardt N-C. A versatile urea type linker for functionalizing natural glycans and its validation in glycan arrays. Chemistry. 2023;29(52):e202301494.
Sucre A, Amaya-Rodriguez I, Rho H-S, Serna S, Reichardt N, Garin-Muga A, et al. COVID-BIOCHIP: A web tool to Analyse COVID-19 antigen microarrays. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2022;295:183–6.
Di Maio A, Cioce A, Achilli S, Thépaut M, Vivès C, Fieschi F, et al. Controlled density glycodendron microarrays for studying carbohydrate-lectin interactions. Org Biomol Chem. 2021;19(34):7357–62.
Nkurunungi G, van Diepen A, Nassuuna J, Sanya RE, Nampijja M, Nambuya I, et al. Microarray assessment of N-glycan-specific IgE and IgG profiles associated with Schistosoma mansoni infection in rural and urban Uganda. Sci Rep. 2019; 9(1):3522.
Yang YYM, van Diepen A, Brzezicka K, Reichardt N-C, Hokke CH. Glycan microarray-assisted identification of IgG subclass targets in schistosomiasis. Front Immunol. 2018;9:2331.
Medve L, Achilli S, Serna S, Zuccotto F, Varga N, Thépaut M, et al. On-chip screening of a glycomimetic library with C-type lectins reveals structural features responsible for preferential binding of dectin-2 over DC-SIGN/R and langerin. Chemistry. 2018;24(54):14448–60.
Amoah AS, Asuming-Brempong EK, Obeng BB, Versteeg SA, Larbi IA, Aryeetey Y, et al. Identification of dominant anti-glycan IgE responses in school children by glycan microarray. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2018;141(3):1130–3.
Yang YYM, Li XH, Brzezicka K, Reichardt N-C, Wilson RA, van Diepen A, et al. Specific anti-glycan antibodies are sustained during and after parasite clearance in Schistosoma japonicum-infected rhesus macaques. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017;11(2):e0005339.
do Nascimento ASF, Serna S, Beloqui A, Arda A, Sampaio AH, Walcher J, et al. Algal lectin binding to core (α1-6) fucosylated N-glycans: structural basis for specificity and production of recombinant protein. Glycobiology. 2015;25(6):607–16.
Wang L, Cummings RD, Smith DF, Huflejt M, Campbell CT, Gildersleeve JC, et al. Cross-platform comparison of glycan microarray formats. Glycobiology. 2014;24(6):507–17.
Serna S, Hokke CH, Weissenborn M, Flitsch S, Martin-Lomas M, Reichardt N-C. Profiling glycosyltransferase activities by tritium imaging of glycan microarrays. Chembiochem. 2013;14(7):862–9.
Serna S, Yan S, Martin-Lomas M, Wilson IBH, Reichardt N-C. Fucosyltransferases as synthetic tools: glycan array based substrate selection and core fucosylation of synthetic N-glycans. J Am Chem Soc. 2011;133(41):16495–502.
Sanchez-Ruiz A, Serna S, Ruiz N, Martin-Lomas M, Reichardt N-C. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of enzyme activity and lectin trapping on an array of N-glycans. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2011;50(8):1801–4.
Glycoengineering
Zwanenburg L, Borloo J, Decorte B, Bunte MJM, Mokhtari S, Serna S, et al. Plant-based production of a protective vaccine antigen against the bovine parasitic nematode Ostertagia ostertagi. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):20488.
Chen P, De Schutter K, Serna S, Chen S, Yang Q, Reichardt N-C, et al. Glycosylation reduces the glycan-independent immunomodulatory effect of recombinant Orysata lectin in Drosophila S2 cells. Sci Rep. 2021. 11(1):17958.
Brzezicka KA, Serna S, Reichardt NC. Fluorescent neoglycoprotein gold nanoclusters: Synthesis and applications in plant lectin sensing and cell imaging. Nanoscale Res Lett. 2018;13(1):360.
Serna S, Ercibengoa M, Marimón JM, Reichardt N-C. Measuring bacterial glycosyl hydrolase activity with a soluble capture probe by mass spectrometry. Anal Chem. 2018;90(21):12536–43.
Williams C, Royo F, Aizpurua-Olaizola O, Pazos R, Boons G-J, Reichardt N-C, et al. Glycosylation of extracellular vesicles: current knowledge, tools and clinical perspectives. J Extracell Vesicles. 2018;7(1):1442985.
Reichardt N-C, Martín-Lomas M, Penadés S. Opportunities for glyconanomaterials in personalized medicine. Chem Commun (Camb). 2016. 52(92):13430–9.
Eriksson M, Serna S, Maglinao M, Schlegel MK, Seeberger PH, Reichardt N-C, et al. Biological evaluation of multivalent lewis X-MGL-1 interactions. Chembiochem. 2014;15(6):844–51.
Reichardt NC, Martín-Lomas M, Penadés S. Glyconanotechnology. Chem Soc Rev; 2013. 42(10):4358–76.
Etxebarria J, Serna S, Beloqui A, Martin-Lomas M, Reichardt N-C. Three-dimensional arrays using glycoPEG tags: glycan synthesis, purification and immobilisation. Chemistry. 2013;19(15):4776–85.
Ruiz N, Ferreira SS, Padro D, Reichardt N-C, Martín-Lomas M. Experimental observations on the regioselectivity of glycosylation of a 4,6-diol system in the β-D-mannopyranosyl unit of a N-glycan pentasaccharide core structure. Carbohydr Res. 2011;346(12):1581–91
Asparia core expertise
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Custom Glycan Synthesis
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We design, develop, and deliver complex oligosaccharides, glycopeptides, and analytical probes with industry-leading purity.
Glycan Analysis
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Transform raw glycan data into actionable insights with our multi-level analysis service.
Glycotechnology Products
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Whether you need custom synthesis, advanced analysis, or both — our scientists are here to understand your challenge and build the optimal solution