Kramer Stratton Lab
Principal Investigator: Jessica Kramer Stratton
Institution: University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
Primary Subfield: Synthetic Bio
Recruitment Status: ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Mucin glycoproteins are the essential component of mucus and the epithelial cellular glycocalyx. Mucins are essential for life in creatures from jellyfish to humans and play roles in hydration, lubrication, nutrient absorption, and host defense against pathogens. Mucin glycosylation is regulated by complex enzymatic pathways subject to flux, resulting in heterogeneous and variable glycan patterns that vary between tissues and species, and that evolve in response to diet and disease. The Kramer Lab is developing synthetic mucins, or synMUCs, that harness the chemical and biophysical properties of native mucins but have molecularly tunable structures. Polymerization of glycosylated amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides affords high molecular weight polypeptides with the native peptide and glycan linkages. Compared to short peptides, polysaccharides, or traditional polymers bearing attached sugars, synMUCs are the most authentic mucin mimics to date. The synMUCs will be applied in engineered models of the glycocalyx and secreted mucus. These models will find broad future application in studies of epithelial biology with application in cancer, drug delivery, immunity, and infection. Since muc…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R35GM147262-05: Synthetic mucins in epithelial models to probe virus-mucin interactions (2026)
- 5R35GM147262-04: Synthetic mucins in epithelial models to probe virus-mucin interactions (2025)
- 5R35GM147262-03: Synthetic mucins in epithelial models to probe virus-mucin interactions (2024)
- 3R35GM147262-03S1: Synthetic mucins in epithelial models to probe virus-mucin interactions (2024)
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