Chemical Biology of Protein Misfolding

Proteins are the main machines of the cell, but they are prone to forming aberrant species in a process called protein misfolding. Not only are misfolded proteins incapable of performing their evolved functions, but they can actively interfere with the other activities a cell needs to perform to live. Protein misfolding is therefore implicated in many prevalent diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, but unfortunately, we do not understand the nature of misfolded proteins or why they form, preventing effective disease interventions. Our laboratory is working to solve these problems using approaches from chemistry and biology to understand protein misfolding in atomic detail.