This is a copy of the slides presented at the meeting but not formally written up for the volume.

Cell surface carbohydrates play unique roles in a host of biologically relevant events such as cell differentiation, adhesion and development. They also mediate many undesired processes such as pathogenic infection and tumor metastasis. A common feature of all tumor cells is the altered expression and presentation of surface glycans that serve as “non-self” structures that can be recognized by the immune system. For many years, these tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACA’s) have been employed in the development of tumor vaccines with varying degrees of success. In addition, these sugars may mediate tumor cell adhesion during the metastatic cascade. We have previously succeeded in preparing both gold nanoparticles and quantum dot nanocrystals that were coated with specific TACA’s. We have concentrated on the Thomsen Friedenreich (TF) antigen disaccharide (Galβ1-3GalNAcα-O-Ser/Thr) and have shown that gold particles coated with TF antigen can either promote or inhibit metastasis in vivo. Here we describe our progress toward the synthesis of a number of these multivalent nanoscaffolds and report on our characterization efforts and how the size and surface chemistry of the particles relates to their biological activities.