| Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, develop when certain proteins in the body, which are meant to act together as complexes, become impaired. The researchers from Technion’s Faculty of Biology used innovative methods to analyse these processes, identifying the importance of some amino acids that serve as anchors to initiate and stabilise the formation of protein complexes. In doing so, they also found that when disrupted, these proteins can misfold, leading—in some cases—to certain neurodegenerative diseases.
Based on these results, the researchers have developed a model to predict and protect the protein production processes. They hope this model could serve as a basis for designing new proteins and enabling the development of preventative treatments. The research was led by Technion professor Dr Ayala Shiber and spearheaded by students Johannes Venezian, Hila Ben-arie Zilberman, and Noam Cohen, along with their professors Dr Hagit Bar-Yosef, Professor Oded Kleifeld, Dr Fabian Glaser and Professor Juan Fernadez from Spain. The Technion has a notable history in the field of neurodegenerative research. Professor Emeritus Moussa Youdim co-created the first anti-Parkinson’s drug, Rasagiline, now marketed as Azilect®, while Professor Ester Segal, along with her PhD student Michal Rosenberg in the Technion Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering and scientists from Bar-Ilan University, developed a nanoscale silicon chip that can bypass the ‘blood-brain barrier’ to inhibit the disease’s progression by attacking the buildup of protein in the brain which has been found to kill neurons and damage motor function. Meanwhile, dean of the Faculty of Biology Professor Michael Glickman and Dr Inbal Maniv hypothesised just last year that this protein buildup is associated with a malfunction in the body’s mechanism for clearing away proteins and developed a molecule that was proven to help mitigate the disease and could serve as a prototype for later treatments. Professor Glickman and Professor Jackie Schiller were each awarded €2.5 million in April of this year by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme to help further their research into neurological disorders. There are currently estimated to be 982,000 people living with dementia in the UK, and this is projected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040, according to Alzheimer’s Society. |
