Analysis of the effect of environmental factors on the structure of catalytic amyloid fibrils

Amyloid fibrils are filamentous polypeptide aggregates of great scientific relevance due to their association with diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and systemic amyloidosis. While the abnormal formation of these misfolded states inside the human body can lead to severe health problems, there are increasing attempts to utilize amyloid structures due to their unique structural and chemical properties for biotechnological purposes. However, their structure and resilience to environmental stress are not well understood. The aim of this project to use catalytic amyloid as a model system to determine the effect of environmental factors on the polymorphic structure of amyloids. We will combine methods of structural biology with mathematical approaches to statistically assess fibril samples at a single particle level and to generally improve their structural analysis.

DFG Programme Research Grants