PolySac3DB^© is an annotated database that contains the 3D structural information polysaccharide entries that have been collected from an extensive screening of scientific literature.  They have been systematically organized using standard names in the field of carbohydrate research into 18 categories representing polysaccharide families. Structure-related information includes the saccharides making up the repeat unit(s) and their glycosidic linkages, the expanded 3D representation of the repeat unit, unit cell dimensions and space group, helix type, diffraction diagram(s) (when applicable), experimental and/or simulation methods used for structure description, link to the abstract of the publication, reference and the atomic coordinate files for visualization and download. The database is accompanied by an intuitive graphical user-interface (GUI). It features interactive displays of polysaccharide structures and customized search options for beginners and experts, respectively.

The site also serves as an information portal for polysaccharide structure determination techniques of X-ray, crystallography, neutron diffraction, electron diffraction, NMR and molecular modeling.

Additionally it provides a link to the stand-alone version of a polysaccharide builder tool, called Polys, using which polysaccharide helices can be modeled (containing up to 8 repeating units) .

The web-interface also references external links where other carbohydrate-related resources are available.

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DATABASES at CERMAV ^©

CERMAV has been dedicatedly working towards building a comprehensive repository of 3D structures of sugars that include

1. Monosaccharides
2. Disaccharides
3. Oligosaccharides (Crystal structures)
4. Bio-active Oligosaccharides
5. Polysaccharides

as well as the proteins that interact with them

1. Lectines
2. Glycosyltransferases
3. GAG-binding proteins

It is available as open-source for academic users over the internet.

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CERMAV is a research unit of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) which is located at Grenoble, France. Created in 1966, this center was one of the first institutes to be built on the new campus of the University of Grenoble on the banks of the river Isère.

CERMAV has been affliated with the Université Joseph Fourier (UJF), Grenoble since 1966. This has produced strong and active interactions with different teaching and research departments.

The Molecular Glycobiology group at CERMAV is interested in the following :

1. Structure-function studies of carbohydrate-binding proteins (sequence analysis, molecular biology, crystallography, thermodynamic & binding studies, molecular modeling, database and tool development)
2. Engineering of glycosyltransferases and lectins
3. Structural characterization of oligosaccharides and nucleotide-sugars and protein-carbohydrate interactions