Traditional protein glycosylation adds polysaccharide chains to proteins to be exposed to the external environment of the cells. A very different form of glycosylation called O-linked N-acetylglucosaminylation (O-GlcNAcylation) occurs on intracellular proteins. It is thought that O-GlcNAcylation serves as a sensor of cellular energy status and glucose availability to regulate metabolism. This concept has led to an increasing interest in O-GlcNAcylation in disease contexts, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. The fact that several cellular stressors increase O-GlcNAc levels, however, points to a role of O-GlcNAcylation in protein quality control. My previous work showed that hypothermia decreases and hyperthermia increases O-GlcNAc levels. The proposed project at Folhälsan Research Center aims to understand how and why cellular O-GlcNAc status is sensitive to temperature, and what the medical relevance could be.

2026

2030