The difficulty associated with carbohydrate analysis has long been an impediment to such
research. In this review, we highlight the latest advances addressing these issues, focusing on
methods that are high throughput and are therefore breaking down barriers to the analysis of whole
glycomes. We begin with a brief overview of glycan biosynthesis and structure, emphasizing issues
that confound analysis of these complex molecules. We then cover a broad range of technologies
for glycan analysis, including current applications of chromatography, mass spectrometry (MS),
and microarray methodologies, that are advancing our understanding of glycosylation.