Glucose is a universal currency of energy. Trafficked via our intricate blood-filled capilliaries, this sugar molecule is able to be distributed to each of our tens of trillions of cells.

We – bacteria, yeast and humans alike – depend on glucose to help fuel our ceasless metabolic demand. An evolutionary imperative was to devise a method of storing large amounts of glucose in our body, avoiding the requirement to become like coal-stream trains that require constant feeding to keep our cells and organs chugging along.

The amount of glucose we can store in our cells, like any molecule, is heavily limited by the osmotic pressure it would exert on our cell membrane. As described so poignantly by Dr Ian Malcom (Goldblum) in Jurrassic Park: “Life Finds a Way”.

By linking tens of thousands of glucose units together in these glycogen molecules, we dramatically increase the amount of glucose that can be stored in each cell.

Glycogen hive was created to connect everyone who is interested in glycogen – researchers, students, or simply curious minds. Together let’s increase the buzz around the importance of our glucose batteries!