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NIH grant may help researchers unlock Alzheimer’s mystery
By Kathleen Haughney
A team of researchers from Florida State University and
the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville have received $1.67 million
from the National Institutes of Health to study a specific
protein in the body believed to cause Alzheimer’s disease.
Florida State Associate Professor of Chemical and
Biomedical Engineering Anant Paravastu and Professor
of Physics Huan-Xiang Zhou, along with Mayo Clinic
Department of Neuroscience researcher Terrone
Rosenberry, will study the structure of the Alzheimer’s
beta-amyloid protein and how it creates what is called an
oligomer.
This oligomer is a nanoparticle composed of roughly
30 beta-amyloid molecules. The protein’s self-assembly
process is considered key to unlocking some of the
mysteries behind Alzheimer’s disease.
“Based on genetic and pathological evidence, we know
that the beta amyloid is linked to Alzheimer’s disease,”
Paravastu said. “We need to understand exactly how this
molecule can cause neuron destruction in the brain.
Understanding the oligomeric molecular structure would
be an important step towards that goal.”
Most diseases are combatted by eliminating threats posed
by an invading organism. Alzheimer’s disease, in contrast,
is caused by a protein (beta-amyloid) that is found in the
brains of all people, healthy or not. Scientists believe that
Alzheimer’s disease happens when protein self-assembles
to form specific toxic nanostructures. However, several
different nanostructures are known to exist and it is not
clear which structures cause the disease or why they are
toxic.
Paravastu, Rosenberry and Zhou will use the grant to
better understand the self-assembly on a fundamental
level.
“We’d like to eventually make a drug that prevents toxic
structures of the protein from forming,” Paravastu said.
“But, we first need to understand what these structures
are and how they form.”
Rosenberry’s laboratory has been able to isolate and
produce high quality samples of the beta amyloid
oligomers. Paravastu focuses on the structural
characterization of the proteins using a technique called
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Zhou’s
laboratory will produce three-dimensional computer
models of the structure.
“It takes a village to raise a research grant,” Paravastu said.
“This science would not have been possible without close
collaboration between very different research groups.”
The grant will be divided between Florida State and the
Mayo Clinic over the next five years.
“This science would not have
been possible without close
collaboration between very
different research groups.”
Anant Paravastu, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering
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