Good Amyloids, Bad Amyloids: Shape Shifting and Contagious Shape

Ann McDermott, Columbia University

For proteins, aka “the building blocks of life”,  shape is ultimately important. Shape, more than other properties, confers function, information about protein shapes is coveted in the development of new medicines and diagnostics.   Most proteins are somewhat flexible, and there are numerous shapes that can be adopted in the course or their cellular function.  Protein flexibility has a dark side— the shape-shifting can shape be extreme in many diseases–  such that proteins adopt a dramatically different  elongated shape— one in which many copies of the protein clump together and form amyloid deposits in the brain, pancreas, kidney, heart, liver, or other organs. This lecture explores a controversial point regarding amyloid proteins.  Are amyloid proteins sometimes employed by nature for benefit?  Does nature, the ultimate opportunist, make good use of the fact that proteins convert from their normal shape to this quasi-universal clumped form?

Town Talks will be held on Tuesdays at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village June 3 to August 12 (with the exception of July 1). Doors open at 6 pm and the program starts at 6:30 pm. Free and open to the public.

Thanks to our title sponsor Alpine Bank and Telluride Mountain Village Owner’s Association.