Immunoglycomics
Dr Mattie Timmer and Dr Bridget Stocker

We synthesise novel carbohydrates and trial them in biological assays. Our research programme, coined "immunoglycomics" investigates the interaction of sugars with the human immune system. It is a joint initiative of Victoria University of Wellington and the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research.

Drs Timmer and Stocker in their immunoglycomics lab.

New carbohydrate-based therapeutic agents, which have different capabilities to traditional drugs, have the potential to successfully treat cancer and diseases of the immune system.

In living systems, carbohydrates occur as glycoconjugates, linked to a range of other chemical species. Our research is exploring the role of glycoconjugates as allergens, as adjuvants (immune system stimulants), as well as therapeutics.

We have developed new synthetic methods to get to our target molecules, using environmentally friendly ‘green chemistry’. Students are involved in both the chemical synthesis and the biological testing of their target compounds.

Current research activities

Asthma triggers
Determining the chemical compound responsible for the immune system’s allergic reaction in asthma is one of the big challenges we have set ourselves. A number of allergens have carbohydrate motifs incorporated into their structure and these are the focus of our investigations into the allergic immune response.

The compounds we synthesise in our group are put through an onsite Th2 (Type 2 helper T cell) immune response assay. As the number of screened compounds increases, the relationship between carbohydrate structure and Th2 bias is elucidated. This understanding is expected to lead to novel therapeutic targets to diagnose and treat asthma and allergies.

Cancer therapy
Adjuvants act on the immune system to increase the power of vaccines. Immunotherapy uses the immune system to fight cancer in the body, but can be ‘amped’ with the use of an adjuvant. We synthesise and screen new glycolipids for their activity as adjuvants.  

Natural products can have powerful anti-cancer properties. The quinones, found originally in plants, are being investigated by our group for the novel way they kill tumour cells. We are making a range of analogous compounds, based on the natural structure, to investigate these properties. 

Treating tuberculosis
TB is caused by mycobacteria. Mycobacterial enzymes use a specific sugar, arabinose, to build and maintain their bacterial cell membrane. Human enzymes cannot use arabinose, so the design of drugs to block the arabinose metabolic pathway would enable the bacteria to be destroyed without affecting its human host.

We are synthesising a range of enzyme inhibitors which take advantage of this difference. New compounds are screened in TB assays, either in house or at the School of Biological Sciences.

Research funding
Funding grants from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, the Cancer Society, Lottery Health Research, the Wellington Medical Research Foundation and from industry, currently support our research programmes.

Available research projects

The following projects are available for post-graduate students.

Group members

Academic Staff
Dr Mattie Timmer (Leader) | Dr Bridget Stocker (Leader) (Malaghan Institute of Medical Research) 
 
Post-doctoral Fellows
Lynton Baird

Research Officers, Research Assistants
Ben Mulchin | Janice Cheng | Gregory Haslett

PhD Students
Emma Dangerfield | Ashna Khan | Anna Win-Mason

Honours Students
Emily Mackay | Chris Newton | Catherine Plunkett

Key publications

1. Dangerfield EM, Timmer MSM, Stocker BL. Total synthesis without protecting groups: pyrrolidines and cyclic carbamates. (2009). Org. Lett. 11:535-538. DOI
2. Baird LJ, Timmer MSM, Teesdale-Spittle PH, Harvey JE. Total Synthesis of Aigialomycin D using a Ramberg-Bäcklund/RCM Strategy. (2009). J. Org. Chem. 74:2271-77. DOI
3. Blackie E, Le Ru EC, Meyer M, Timmer M, Burkett B, Northcote P, Etchegoin, PG. (2008). Bi-Analyte SERS with isotopically edited dyes. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 10:4147-4153. DOI
4. Timmer MSM, Stocker BL, Seeberger, PH. (2007). Probing glycomics. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol., 11:59-65. DOI
5. Timmer MSM, Stocker BL, Seeberger PH. (2006). De novo synthesis of aceric acid, an aceric acid building block. J. Org. Chem. 71:8294-8297. DOI
6. Timmer MSM, Adibekian A, Seeberger PH. (2005). Short de novo synthesis of fully functionalized uronic acid monosaccharides. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 44:7605-7607. DOI
   More publications

Dr Timmer is a Lecturer in the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences. His PhD in synthetic chemistry from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry was followed by a post-doctoral fellowship with Prof. Dr. P.H. Seeberger at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. He joined Victoria University in 2006.

Dr M S M Timmer School of Chemical and Physical Sciences Victoria University of Wellington Wellington 6012 NEW ZEALAND ph +64(0)4-463-6529 Mattie.Timmer@vuw.ac.nz