SCAN: When Proteins misbehave: protein misfolding and aggregation in disease

SCAN Seminar

Title: When Proteins misbehave: protein misfolding and aggregation in disease

Speaker: Claudio M. Gomes

Affiliation: Protein Biochemistry, Folding & Stability Laboratory

Abstrat:
Protein folding in the cell is a tightly regulated process. However, genetic or sporadic factors may compromise protein folding and the folded state, resulting in the formation of non-native misfolded, destabilized, aggregated or fibrillar species. These are hallmarks of the so-called protein conformational disorders, in which the altered protein conformations result in cell toxicity, functional deficiency or lead to dominant negative
effects.

In recent years, we have been increasingly involved in the study of the molecular and structural determinants underlying protein misfolding in the context of human disease, and targets under study in my laboratory include
neurodegenerative and metabolic disorders. In this talk I will overview the basic principles that determine protein folding and misfolding in the cell and in the test tube, and I will outline how these processes can be
addressed using a combination of molecular, biophysical and biochemical methodologies.

The study of protein misfolding in the context of human disease will be illustrated with examples of our ongoing research, with a special focus on the recently elicited amyloidogenic pathways involving the cancer and
neurodegeneration related S100 proteins.