Research Summary/Interest

 Abnormal aggregation of proteins in brain during the course of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease

 Aging of the world’s population has amplified neurodegenerative disorders, of which Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the most common. Worldwide, nearly 44 million people have Alzheimer’s or related dementia, and an estimated 7 to 10 million people have Parkinson’s disease. Both disorders are characterized by the presence of β-sheet enriched aggregates formed by amyloid proteins, the subsequent damage, and loss of neurons, as well as substantial synaptic degradation. Given the continued challenges for therapy that improves cognitive function for those afflicted, it is apparent that our knowledge of the disease remains incomplete. Therefore there is a pressing need to better understand the molecular mechanisms. 

Using infrared microspectroscopy, Medic Microspectrocopy group is developing ultra-sensitive protocols to study amyloid protein aggregation in brain tissue and cells. We pioneered novel and ground-breaking evidence of intraneuronal β-sheet enriched aggregates which can appear in neurons. Now MMS research team aims to understand why malignant protein aggregation begins in the brain and how these aggregated proteins spread from one neuron to another.

We co-use traditional cellular biology approaches and synchrotron-based microspectroscopy techniques.