27^th International Carbohydrate Symposium (ICS-27)

The 27^th International Carbohydrate Symposium (ICS-27), the bi-annual symposium of the International Carbohydrate Organization (ICO), an associate organization of IUPAC, was held at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, 12–17 January 2014. Conducting this symposium was a historic moment and an acknowledgment of the country that has made great strides in the science and technology of carbohydrates over the last couple of decades and before.

The symposium was attended by ~700 delegates from over 40 countries, well represented in terms of participation and reflecting well on the global stature of carbohydrate science and technology. The symposium converged on six major themes, namely, carbohydrate chemistry, glycoconjugates and glycobiology, structures and conformations, carbohydrate materials, plant and animal polysaccharides, and analytical tools and array technologies. There were 49 sessions, comprising 16 plenary lectures, 36 lead lectures, 96 invited lectures, 114 oral presentations, and ~400 poster presentations, running through four parallel sessions in two half-days and four full days. The symposium was also proud to host the first-ever ICO’s new initiative on recognizing young researchers, through a Young Researcher Award.

The organization of the symposium warrants expressing our sincere gratitude to all those who helped to shape it. Foremost are the ICO, IUPAC, the national adhering organization to ICO, namely, the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), and the host organization IISc. Patrons and colleagues of the International Advisory Committee, National Advisory Committee, Scientific Advisory Committee, and Organizing Committee gave the right impetus to the symposium. Government, institutional, and industrial sponsors are acknowledged for their generous support.

The collection of articles in this issue is representative of themes covered in the symposium. We greatly appreciate and acknowledge the contributions of the authors. We are also grateful to IUPAC for enthusiastic support.