Figure 1.

Recognition of glycans by protein receptors occurs in the dynamic and compositionally heterogeneous environment of the cellular glycocalyx. These interactions can be influenced by the presence and physical properties of non-binding, spectator, glycoconjugates. Synthetic mimetics of membrane associated glycoproteins, such as mucins, can be generated and installed into the native glycocalyx to evaluate how changes in glycocalyx crowding and physical properties impact ligand-receptor interactions.