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Project

How do possible Alzheimer's drugs bind to their target?

Alzheimer's disease is characterized, among other things, by the formation of protein plaques in the brain. This is based on the wrong cutting of the Alzheimer Precursor Protein by the enzyme gamma-secretase. In the past decade, possible medicines have been developed that must counteract this wrong cutting. Although clinical studies have been negative for the time being, this principle is promising. A major problem, however, is that we do not know how these substances bind to the gamma-secretase and this hampers their improvement. In this project we will first chemically fix the candidate drug in the binding cavity of the protein and then analyze where that binding site was. Crucial for this is the combination of different chemical and analytical techniques, including modern mass spectrometry.

Date:1 Jan 2018 →  31 Dec 2018
Keywords:Alzheimer
Disciplines:Neurosciences, Biological and physiological psychology, Cognitive science and intelligent systems, Developmental psychology and ageing