Software Tools for Semi‐automatic Interpretation of Mass Spectra of Glycans

Mass spectrometry is the main analytical technique currently used to address the challenges of glycomics as it offers unrivalled levels of sensitivity and the ability to analyse complex mixtures of different glycans. Modern MS techniques are capable to produce mass spectra of fragmented carbohydrates which can be exploited to determine the structure of glycan molecules. However, interpretation of mass spectra is still a major bottleneck in high-throughput glycomics projects. The EUROCarbDB initiative intends to overcome this situation by providing two new and freely available analytical software tools for the semi-automatic structure elucidation: Glyco-Peakfinder, a web-tool for composition analysis of glycans and GlycoWorkbench, a software suite for final structure assignment.