Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago

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Some of the most powerful medicines we use today come from natural products, which are specialized molecules that plants and microbes have evolved over millions of years. Sugars play a key role in these compounds—determining how the molecule behaves, where it travels in the body and how strongly it activates the immune system.

In this Front Row lecture, Scripps Research chemist Yuzhong Liu demonstrates how her lab uses synthetic biology to decode the role of sugars in medicine—helping scientists build next-generation vaccine adjuvants, cancer therapies and safer treatments.

https://www.scripps.edu/