New Discoveries in Cell Aging

[TECH NEWS]

A group of researchers led by the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have managed to quantify with precision the effect of protein aggregation (the aggregation of mis-folded proteins) on cell aging processes. They used as models the Escherichia coli bacteria and the molecule which triggers Alzheimer’s disease. The scientists demonstrated that the effect can be predicted before it occurs. Protein aggregation is related to several diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases. The research, published recently in the Journal of Molecular Biology, provides an extremely reliable system with which to model and quantify the effect of protein aggregation on the viability, division and aging of cells. It also aids in further understanding the natural evolution of proteins. According to Salvador Ventura, researcher at IBB and director of the research project, “it will serve to develop computer approximations to predict the effects aggregation has on cell aging, as well as to search for molecules that act as natural chaperones, highly conserved proteins which are present also in humans and which have the ability to reduce this effect in the bacteria”.

Jan. 19, 2012, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)