Cathal Patrick Forkan

Biography

I am Cathal Forkan, originally from Galway, Ireland. I completed my Bsc. in Biotechnology at the University of Galway in 2022. I proceeded to study an EMJMD master’s in Precision Medicine at the Université Grenoble-Alpes, France, graduating in 2024. My master’s thesis research on extracellular-vesicle based therapy for type-1 diabetes was conducted at the Steno Diabetes Centre in Copenhagen. My background of experience is in cellular and molecular biology, strongly driven by a curiosity and passion for science, and the desire to play a part in meaningful advances in science and ultimately, clinical therapies.

Research project objectives

In my project I aim to characterise isoenzyme-specific inhibitors of glycosyltransferases. Targeted glycosyltransferases have been linked to the expression of cancer-associated glycan motifs. Glycosyltransferase inhibitors developed by the DN will be tested in custom-engineered cell-based glycan arrays, to test for their specificity and efficacy as inhibitors of glycosylation, with a key focus on inhibitor specificity for individual isoenzymes. Key targets will be the STn-associated ST6GALNAC1 and the SLeX associated FUT6 and FUT7.

Graduate Program for Cellular & Genetic Medicine (CeGem), University of Copenhagen

GlycoDisplay is a spin-out from the Copenhagen Center for Glycomics (CCG), Copenhagen University, a world leader in the field of glyco-engineering and glycomics. GlycoDisplay develops and utilizes cell-based glycan arrays and recombinant expressed reporters for screening of biological functions of glycans and glycan binding proteins. GlycoDisplay is located at CCG and shares its state-of-the-art facilities for mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, cell engineering, and glycan arrays.

Selected papers (10):

  1. Sørensen DM, Büll C, Madsen TD, Lira-Navarrete E, Clausen TM, Clark AE, Garretson AF, Karlsson R, Pijnenborg JFA, Yin X, Miller RL, Chanda SK, Boltje TJ, Schjoldager KT, Vakhrushev SY, Halim A, Esko JD, Carlin AF, Hurtado-Guerrero R, Weigert R, Clausen H, Narimatsu Y (2023): Identification of global inhibitors of cellular glycosylation. Nat Commun. 20;14(1):948. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36598-7.
  2. Chen Y-H, Tian W, Yasuda M, Ye Z, Song M, Mandel U, Kristensen C, Povolo L, Marques A R, Caval T, Heck A J R, Sampaio J L, Johannes L, Tsukimura T, Desnick R, Vakhrushev S Y, Yang Z, Clausen H (2023): A universal GlycoDesign for lysosomal replacement enzymes to improve circulation time and biodistribution. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnool, 11:1128371. DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1128371
  3. Nason R, Bull C, Konstantinidi A, Sun L, Ye Z, Halim A, Du W, Sørensen DM, Durbesson F, Furukawa S, Mandel U, Joshi HJ, Dworkin LA, Hansen L, David L, Iverson TM, Bensing BA, Sullam PM, Varki A, Vries E, Haan C, Vincentelli R, Henrissat B, Vakhrushev S, Clausen H, Narimatsu Y (2021): Display of the human mucinome with defined O-glycans by gene engineered cells. Nat Commun1;12(1):4070. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24366-4
  4. Narimatsu Y, Joshi H, Nason R, Van Coillie J, Karlsson R, Sun L, Ye Z, Chen Y-H, Schjoldager KT, Steentoft C, Furukawa S, Bensing BA, Sullam PM, Thompson AJ, Paulson JC, Bull C, Adema GJ, Mandel U, Hansen L, Bennett EP, Varki A, Vakhrushev SY, Yang Z, Clausen H (2019): An Atlas of Human Glycosylation Pathways Enables Display of the Human Glycome by Gene Engineered Cells. Mol Cell75:1-14. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2019.05.017
  5. Tian W, Ye Z, Wang S, Schulz MA, Van Coillie J, Sun L, Chen Y-H, Narimatsu Y, Hansen L, Kristensen C, Mandel U, Bennett EP, Jabbarzadeh-Tabrizi S, Schiffmann R, Shen J-S, Vakhrushev SY, Clausen H, Yang Z. (2019): The Glycosylation Design Space for Recombinant Lysosomal Replacement Enzymes Produced in CHO Cells. Nat Commun. 10:1785. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09809-3
  6. Chen Y-H, Narimatsu Y, Clausen TM, Gomes C, Karlsson R, Steentoft C, Spliid CB, Gustavsson T, Salanti A, Persson A, Malmström A, Willén W, Ellervik U, Bennett EP, Mao Y, Clausen H & Yang Z (2018): The GAGOme: a cell-based library of displayed glycosaminoglycans. Nat Methods15(11):881-888. DOI: 10.1038/s41592-018-0086-z
  7. Schulz MA, Tian W, Mao Y, van Coillie J, Sun L, Larsen JS, Chen YH, Kristensen C, Vakhrushev SY, Clausen H, Yang Z. (2018): Glycoengineering design options for IgG1 in CHO cells using precise gene editing. Glycobiology 1;28(7):542-549. DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwy022
  8. Narimatsu Y, Joshi HJ, Zhang Y, Gomes C, Chen Y-H, Lorenzetti F, Furukawa S, Schjoldager K, Hansen L, Clausen H, Bennett EP, Wandall HH (2018): A validated gRNA library for CRISPR/Cas9 targeting of the human glycosyltransferase genome. Glycobiology1;28(5):295-305. DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwx101
  9. Lonowski LA, Narimatsu Y, Riaz A, Delay CE, Yang Z, Niola F, Duda K, Ober EA, Clausen H, Wandall HH, Hansen SH, Bennett EP, Frödin M (2017): Genome editing using FACS enrichment of nuclease-expressing cells and idel detection by amplicon analysis. Nat Protocols12(3):581-603. DOI: 10.1038/nprot.2016.165
  10. Yang Z, Wang S, Halim A, Schulz MA, Frodin M, Rahman SH, Vester-Christensen MB, Behrens C, Kristensen C, Vakhrushev SY, Bennett EP, Wandall HH, Clausen H. (2015): Engineered CHO cells for production of diverse, homogeneous glycoproteins. Nat Biotechnol33:842-4. DOI: 10.1038/nbt.3280