“Towards a thermodynamic understanding of amyloid solubility enhancement by chaperones”

Date: Mondy 26th of May at 11:00 in Askja, room N-132

Title: “Towards a thermodynamic understanding of amyloid solubility enhancement by chaperones”

Speaker: Professor Linse is a professor of Biochemistry and Structural Biology at Lund University, Sweden. Her fields of interest range from protein interaction with ligands, other proteins, and nanoparticles, amyloid formation, mechanism, and equilibrium and the role of chaperones. Sara serves as Chair of the Committee for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and was also awarded the 2019 European Molecular Biology Organization Women in Science Award.

Abstract: Chaperones may suppress amyloid formation leading to delayed aggregation and increased solubility. The elucidation of amyloid formation mechanisms and the steps at which chaperones interfere may lead to enhanced understanding of reduced neurotoxicity and may aid therapeutic development. The other key aspect of chaperones - increased solubility of amyloid proteins – means an effect on equilibrium parameters, which requires a thermodynamic explanation. We have put forward one possible such explanation, which we call “the unhappy chaperone” and will show a series of experimental evidence supporting its likelihood.