We make things chemically that people used to isolate," explains Seeberger. "The automated synthesizer puts single sugars, the building blocks of carbohydrates, together like beads on a string."
Carbohydrates play crucial roles in the immune system, especially in the body's defenses against disease-causing viruses and bacteria. Most of these microbes have unique carbohydrate markers on their surfaces. The immune system recognizes these carbohydrates as foreign material, and creates antibodies that launch an immune response to battle the infection