Learning from Yeast to Treat Dementia

Düsseldorf/Jülich, 22 February 2018 – Together with Japanese colleagues, biophysicists from Forschungszentrum Jülich and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf have investigated the folding of certain proteins in yeast fungi. They found mechanisms similar to those found in prions. These are proteins that are abnormally folded, causing the outbreak of neurodegenerative diseases. Using the prions in yeasts, the researchers gained new insights into the development of the detrimental proteins. They published their results in the specialist journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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