In contrast with protein studies, where a primary protein structure is unambiguously defined by the sequence of nucleotides (the genetic code), the glycobiology still cannot explain how a certain "message" is encoded using carbohydrates or how it is "read" and "translated" by other biological entities. 
An interdisciplinary effort, combining chemistry, biology, and biochemistry, studies glycan-protein interactions to see how different sequences of carbohydrates initiate different cellular responses.