Personal Statement
Research in Professor Lu-Gang Yu's laboratory is centred on the functional significance and molecular actions of cellular glycosylation and carbohydrate-binding proteins (lectins), in particular galectins, in cancer development, progression and metastasis. Research in his laboratory has a strong element in translational development of galectin-targeted therapeutics. The discovery of several pre-clinical and clinical galectin-3 inhibitors in his laboratory has led to the spin-out of a biotech company GALYTX LTD (www.galytx.com) to develop galectin-3-targeted novel therapeutic drugs for treatment of cancer and other galectin-3-mediated pathologies. His research has been supported by various national and international funding agencies including MRC, CRUK, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, Northwest Cancer Research Fund, American Institute for Cancer Research, World Cancer Research Fund, Royal Society and Mizutani Foundation for Glycosciences.