Cell surface but also body fluid proteins are extensively decorated with specific sugar moieties, so called glycans, who together with proteins and lipids form the glycocalyx that is the first area of contact between cells, but also for numerous pathogens. These glycans build the basis for a universal language (glycome) that cells and proteins use to communicate and interact. In many diseases specific cells start talking different languages, resulting in different proteins and glycans being expressed on the cells surface. The glycomics & glycoproteomics tools we are developing enable translation of the languages cells use to talk to each other in health and disease. It also is the basis to identify novel disease markers with the objective to identify diseases such as cancer at an earlier stage and thus initiate more effective countermeasures (Almeida and Kolarich 2016)