Professor Gordan Lauc
Gordan Lauc, Ph.D. is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Zagreb, Founder and CEO at Genos, and CSO at GlycanAge.
His current work mostly focuses on the complex genetics of protein glycosylation and the role of alternative glycosylation in common diseases. In 2007, he founded Genos, a biotech company that is currently the global leader in high-throughput glycomics.
In 2017, Gordan initiated the launch of the Human Glycome project and is one of its two co-directors.
Gordan’s lab, Genos, is addressing the functional significance of protein glycosylation in health and disease by performing large-scale studies of the human glycome and genome-wide associations. His research team is pioneering high throughput glycomic analysis and the application of glycan biomarkers in the field of precision medicine. By combining glycomic data with extensive genetic, epigenetic, biochemical, and physiological data in a systems biology approach, they are trying to understand the role of glycans in normal physiology and disease.
Read Glycans Are a Novel Biomarker of Chronological and Biological Ages and Glycosylation of serum proteins in inflammatory diseases.
Protein glycosylation is a posttranslational modification that modulates protein structure and function. Contrary to polypeptide parts of proteins, glycan parts are not directly encoded in our genome. Instead, they are encoded in a dynamic network encompassing hundreds of genes and environmental factors.
Read Connecting genetic risk to disease end points through the human blood plasma proteome.
Gordan’s laboratory performed the first large-scale studies of the human plasma glycome and the human IgG glycome. These analyses were the basis for the subsequent genome-wide association studies, which identified some key genes that regulate protein glycosylation.
Gordan has been the Director of the National Centre of Scientific Excellence in Personalised Healthcare since 2015. Their objective is to identify and evaluate researchers and research that are innovative, have the potential of discovery and are internationally relevant in terms of quality and vision and in line with the strategic needs and priorities of the Republic of Croatia and objectives of Strategy Europe 2020 and Strategy for Education, Science and Technology.
Gordan was elected Honorary Professor in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 2012 and elected Honorary Professor at the Kings College London in 2015, and is also a member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars since 2011.
Gordan earned his Ph.D.in Chemistry in 1995 and his Master’s Degree of Science in Molecular Biology in 1992 — both from the Faculty of Science at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. He did his Postdoc in Biochemistry between 1995 and 1997 at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, Croatia. In 1997 and 1998, Gordan received the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program Research Grant for his Postdoc in Glycobiology and his project Stress Associated Interactions Between Glycoproteins and Lectin at the Biology Department at Johns Hopkins University.
Since 1997 he has been Assistant and Full Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, Croatia and since 1998 until 2010 Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor, Head of Department for Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Osijek School of Medicine, Croatia and Head of the DNA Laboratory for the identification of war victims in Osijek, Croatia. Between 2001 and 2005, he was the Associate Dean for Research at the University of Osijek School of Medicine.
Between 2001 and 2007, he was Visiting Professor at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.
For three years until 2015, Gordan was also Adjunct Professor at the School of Medical Sciences in Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia.
Gordan coauthored over 200 research articles that are cited over 5,000 times. He was PI and co-PI in four NIH, two FP6, seven FP7, six H2020, and three ESI Funds projects and coordinated five of them.
He chaired a number of conferences, including the European Science Foundation Exploratory Workshop on Glycoscience which resulted in the creation of the European Glycoscience Forum. He is a member of the Board of the International Glycoscience Organization and was their President Elect between 2013 and 2015. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the European Glycoscience Forum.
Gordan is the author of High-Throughput Glycomics and Glycoproteomics: Methods and Protocols published in 2017, where he discusses detailed protocols for the analysis of glycosylation at the level of free glycans and glycopeptides. In 2021 he also authored and published his second book, The Role of Glycosylation in Health and Disease.
Gordan’s lab research became the foundation of the GlycanAge test of biological age.
Watch Science behind GlycanAge test of biological age, GlycanAge / PhysioAge Webinar, Lecture at the British Society for Lifestyle Medicine conference in Edinburgh, Predicting The Future: What Can You Learn from Testing Glycans?, Biomarker & Aging Clock Development, Introductory lecture at the 2nd Meeting of the Human Glycome Project, and Glycans as Biomarkers and Functional Effectors in Cardiometabolic Diseases.
Listen to Looking after your future health with Professor Gordan Lauc. Follow and listen to Gordan’s podcast appearances and talks.
Read A Different Look Into Biohacking That Puts the Focus on Community.
View Gordan’s Most widely held works.
Visit his Academic page, LinkedIn profile, Publons page, his Google Scholar page, and his ResearchGate profile. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
