{"id":194,"date":"2015-03-18T07:10:11","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T11:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/?p=194"},"modified":"2015-03-18T07:33:34","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T11:33:34","slug":"nih-funds-alzheimers-research-addressing-fundamental-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/2015\/03\/18\/nih-funds-alzheimers-research-addressing-fundamental-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"NIH Funds Alzheimer\u2019s Research Addressing Fundamental Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a 4-\u00adyear grant to computational chemists, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/faculty\/straub\/\"><strong>Professor John Straub<\/strong><\/a> and his colleague at the University of Maryland (UMD), <a href=\"http:\/\/biotheory.umd.edu\/\"><strong>Professor Devarajan (Dave) Thirumulai<\/strong><\/a>, on \u201cProbing the role of membrane and cholesterol on APP\u2010C99 structure and dynamics.\u201d\u00a0 Protein aggregation in the brain is linked to Alzheimer\u2019s Disease (AD).\u00a0 This neurodegenerative disorder accounts for nearly 50 percent of all cases of senile dementia, is the third leading cause of death in the elderly population, and \u2013 devastatingly \u00ad\u2010 is presently incurable.\u00a0 Familial mutations in the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP), from which the amyloid \u03b2 (A\u03b2) protein associated with AD is derived, have been linked with the early onset of amyloid disease.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14310\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14310\" style=\"width: 263px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/straub\/files\/2015\/03\/APPtriplet15.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/straub\/files\/2015\/03\/APPtriplet15.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\" wp-image-13711   \" height=\"144\" width=\"258\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14310\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Predicted structure of the transmembrane domain of the APP homodimer may provide critical insight into the genesis of A\u03b2 protein and the evolution of AD.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This computational and theoretical research collaboration between the Straub and Thirumalai groups, augmented by synergistic experimental research collaborations, will explore the structure and dynamics of the 99 amino acid transmembrane fragment of APP (APP\u2010C99) in membrane environments. This work will have high impact because it has the potential to answer outstanding questions in the field that remain unresolved as a result of conflicting conclusions of experimental studies.\u00a0 By providing novel insights into the dependence\u00a0 of APP structure on familial AD mutations, membrane composition, and interactions with cholesterol, the work will advance the ability to develop preventive or early stage therapeutics for AD.<\/p>\n<p>Original article from: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/2015\/03\/04\/nih-funds-alzheimers-research-addressing-fundamental-questions\/\" title=\"BU Chemistry\" target=\"_blank\">BU Chemistry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a 4-\u00adyear grant to computational chemists, Professor John Straub and his colleague at the University of Maryland (UMD), Professor Devarajan (Dave) Thirumulai, on \u201cProbing the role of membrane and cholesterol on APP\u2010C99 structure and dynamics.\u201d\u00a0 Protein aggregation in the brain is linked to Alzheimer\u2019s Disease (AD).\u00a0 This [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1612,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions\/202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/straub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}