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Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

Image courtesy Steven Depolo under Creative Commons agreement

A research team has identified a new process that can cause the aberrant aggregation of misfolded proteins and lead to a range of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.  

The research team, involving Professor Michele Vendruscolo of the Department of Chemistry, Professor Peter St George Hyslop at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Professor Clemens Kaminski at the Department of Chemical Engineering, and others, has for the first time identified a process – the formation of ‘irreversible hydrogels’ – that can cause the aberrant aggregation of misfolded proteins and lead to a range of neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

The research, just published in Neuron, shows “that a particular group of proteins can regulate vital cellular processes by their distinct ability to transition between different states,” says Professor Hyslop. “But this essential property also makes them vulnerable to forming more fixed structures if mutated, disrupting their normal function and causing disease.” 

Professor Vendruscolo’s part in the research was to contribute to the rationalization of the possible mechanism of the toxicity of the irreversible hydrogels  and to their biophysical characterisation.  Vendruscolo says, “It has taken over four years of exciting and challenging research, so I am particularly pleased that our results have now been published.”

A more detailed version of this article can be found on the University of Cambridge research website.