Insights into Protein Aggregation and Dementia

Presentation by Dr. Lesley Emtage

Approximately 6 million Americans suffer from a neurodegenerative illness that causes dementia, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. Current therapies offer only temporary, limited improvement, in part because the direct cause of cell death remains unclear. This talk will focus on:

• The relationship between protein aggregation and neurodegeneration
• What we know about cell death and protein aggregation in the brain
• The cellular machinery that controls aggregation
• What can we learn about protein aggregation that may shed light on therapeutic approaches?