Event Description
Birgit Strodel
Jülich Research Centre
and
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf The aggregation of proteins into β-sheet structures has been extensively studied in vitro under-conditions that are far from the physiological ones. There is need to extend these investigations to in vivo conditions where protein aggregation is affected by a myriad of biochemical interactions. As a hallmark of numerous diseases, these self-assembly processes need to be under-stood in detail to develop novel therapeutic interventions. The aim of our work is to elucidate the effects of various in vivo components and conditions, such as the presence of Cu2+ ions, oxidative stress, an acidic environment mimicking tissue inflam-mation, the presence of cell membranes on the conformational dynamics and aggregation of the Alzheimer’s disease-related amyloid-β peptide. To this end, we develop multiscale simulation approaches, perform large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, and establish novel analysis tools allowing us to unravel the aggregation pathways under varying external conditions. The most recent and enlightening results from these simulations will be presented in my talk.
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