Café Scientifique: How proteins change their shape: insights into Alzheimer's disease March 18, 2010

Louise Serpell (University of Sussex)

Louise has stressed that she is a biochemist and not a clinician; she will be talking about her research, which aims to understand the fundamental causes of Alzheimer’s disease in the laboratory, but she is not an expert on the disease itself.

Louise says: “Proteins are essential to all cellular processes and they are made of chains of amino-acids that fold up to form three-dimensional structure. The shape of the protein allows it to perform specific functions. Sometimes, proteins do not fold correctly, they “misfold” and start to assemble together to form larger complexes known as amyloid fibrils. These types of assemblies are central to a number of diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, as well as Parkinson’s and “mad cow disease”.

In this talk, I will describe how proteins normally fold and what happens when they do not fold correctly and how this might cause Alzheimer’s disease.”

7:30 for an 8pm start (if you want a seat, aim for 7:30)

Meetings are FREE (although a contribution to expenses is appreciated)

Official Website: http://www.cafe-scientifique-brighton.org.uk/