One of our goals is to understand the role of carbohydrates and lectins in respiratory tract homeostasis, inflammation and disease aetiology. Interests extend to the pharmacological, nutritional and environmental effects on respiratory airway diseases, including asthma, rhinitis, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Other activities involve the use of cellular models to investigate inflammation and neuropathy in the context of type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis and studies of the role played by food polysaccharides in disrupting the interaction between galectins and host glycans, a mechanism of potential impact in cancer development. A further focus concerns the influence of plant natural product glycosylation on the bioavailability of dietary phytochemicals in the GI tract, and its influence on absorption into epithelial cells and the systemic circulation. The impact of host-microbe interactions on the immune system is also a major area of investigation.