1501 San Pablo, Los Angeles, CA 90033

View map Free Event

A prion is a misfolded form of the cellular prion protein, PrPC.  Although the role of PrP in neurodegeneration was established over 30 years ago, there is little understanding of the protein’s normal function, and how misfolding leads to profound disease.  Recent work shows that PrPC coordinates Cu2+ and Zn2+ cofactors, and regulates the distribution of these essential metal ions in the brain.  Moreover, these metals stabilize a previously unseen fold in PrPC, the observation of which provides new insight into the mechanism of prion disease, and perhaps other neurodegenerative diseases.  I will provide a brief background on prion diseases and discuss physiology and magnetic resonance experiments that reveal a new PrPC fold feature promoted by metal ions.

Event Details

0 people are interested in this event

User Activity

No recent activity