Infectious diseases continue to be one of the major threats to public health. In the initial events of infection, glycoproteins of human cells interact with surface proteins of bacteria or viruses, the so-called environmental adhesins. In order to pinpoint the driving forces during infection, it is necessary to study the adhesive properties of human cell surface glycoproteins with regard to their primary amino acid sequence and post-translational modifications. The authors discuss how recent developments in seemingly independent fields of the natural sciences, bio-organic synthesis, biophysical visualization and bioanalysis, open the door for a promising interdisciplinary approach to study human infection processes. The use of special synthesized carbohydrate labels, in combination with new super-resolution imaging approaches, allows access to both mapping and identification of cell surface glycoproteins well below the diffraction limit. The methodology will clarify which surface molecules are involved in bacterial adherence with potential implications for bacterial and viral infection prevention.