Neurodegenerative diseases are slow-progressing, incurable, and debilitating disorders affecting patients’ physical movements and mental functions. Common hallmarks of these diseases are long filaments and plaques that arise from disease-specific misfolded proteins that form large aggregates in patients’ brains.
Recent developments in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) facilitate the profiling of such large macromolecular proteins. Researchers have already used cryo-EM to uncover the atomic structures of numerous misfolded proteins and their aggregates, including tau filaments, ɑ-synuclein fibrils, and amyloid-ß aggregates, as well as small-molecule drug candidates that bind to these proteins.
Download our eBook to learn how cryo-EM has been used in the study of:
- Tau protein filaments associated with Alzheimer’s disease and the structure-based classification of tauopathies
- The molecular forces that stabilize and promote the formation of tau filaments and amyloid plaques
- The step-by-step process used to analyze amyloid plaques with cryo-EM