The purpose of this section of the CFG database is to document the success of the CFG in achieving its overall goal to 'define paradigms by which protein-carbohydrate interactions mediate cell communication.' Below are the paradigms chosen by the CFG steering committee, subgroup leaders, and other participating investigators to represent each of the major classes of glycan-binding proteins (GBP). Follow the links to each paradigm for more information and to contribute to a Wiki page describing how the CFG and its PIs have contributed to the understanding of that GBP.
C-type lectins 
The C-type lectin family consists of proteins with diverse overall organization that contain structurally related carbohydrate-recognition domains. Although they generally share a common mechanism for interacting with sugars through a bound calcium ion, the spectrum of ligands bound by different members of the family is diverse and can include both endogenous mammalian oligosaccharides as well a sugar-containing structures on pathogenic micro-organisms. The biological functions of the C-type lectins are correspondingly diverse, but many of the best understood examples are membrane receptors found on the surface of cells of the immune system, which mediate interactions of these cells with each other and with viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites, while other members of the family are soluble mediators of innate immunity. Outside the immune system, members of this group participate in clearance of circulating glycoproteins.
- Paradigm 1: DC-Sign
- Paradigm 2: Macrophage galactose lectin (MGL)
- Paradigm 3: LSECtin
- Paradigm 4: P-Selectin
- Paradigm 5: Mannose receptor
- Paradigm 6: Ficolins or Mannose-binding protein