Oregon State University scientists have taken a key step toward better understanding neurodegenerative diseases by using a suite of biophysical techniques to learn more about a motor protein whose malfunction is associated with many disorders.
The study, published in the journal eLife, represents important progress toward improved care for the millions of people around the world affected by conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.
Neurodegenerative diseases occur when nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, known as neurons, break down, function abnormally and eventually die. As neurons deteriorate, patients typically experience a range of gradually worsening neurological symptoms that can progress to debilitation and, in many cases, death.
According to the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center, 5 million people in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease and 1 million have Parkinson’s. There are also 400,000 MS patients and 30,000 have ALS, a disease that reached the public’s consciousness when baseball star Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with it in 1939.
Neurodegenerative conditions onset primarily in mid- to late-life, meaning the incidence is expected to rise as the U.S. population ages. Demographic data suggest that without new interventions more than 12 million Americans will be affected by neurodegenerative diseases by 2050.
Elisar Barbar, head of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the OSU College of Science, and Kayla Jara, program coordinator for Oregon State’s genetic code expansion center, GCE4All, led a deep dive into dynein, one of the two types of motor proteins within cells; the other type is kinesin.
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