Principal Investigators

    Enciu Ana Maria

    Institution

    National Institute of Research-Development in the Pathology Domain and Biomedical Sciences Victor Babes

    Contact information of lead PI

    Country

    Romania

    Title of project or programme

    Before Alzheimer’s Disease: novel mechanism of amyloid precursor protein signaling in adult healthy brain

    Source of funding information

    The Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)

    Total sum awarded (Euro)

    € 116,939

    Start date of award

    10/01/2015

    Total duration of award in years

    2

    Keywords

    Research Abstract

    Any pathological process (except for infections) is a vicious turn of a normally
    occurring event. When or why this turn occurs in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remains a
    significant scientific problem. Most of the research efforts focus on the outcome of this turn –
    neurotoxic extracellular amyloid plaques in the brain. The role of the amyloid protein (APP)
    forming these plates is still unclear, although its involvement in neuritogenesis and neuronal
    migration has been studied, both adult and embryonic stages. Studies are usually performed in
    aged brain, transgenic or knockout animal models and focus on protein fragments generated from
    various enzymatic processes, rather than on the full protein.
    This project proposes a change of perspective from aging brain towards the healthy adult brain,
    hypothesizing that full APP possesses matrix-related signaling abilities, not limited to nervous
    tissue. As cellular mechanism, we propose an oligomerization model, dependent on membrane
    microdomains, which creates the prerequisites for signaling and proper protein metabolism.
    Not only the project will use advanced techniques (mass spectroscopy, FRET spectrophotometry,
    non-denaturing electrophoresis native), but aims to customize the protocols for the proposed
    hypotheses.

    Further information available at:

    http://www.ivb.ro/v2/index.php/en/2012-11-30-13-03-3/34-default/387-hr

Types: Investments < €500k
Member States: Romania
Diseases: N/A
Years: 2016
Database Categories: N/A
Database Tags: N/A

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