Summer 2024 Newsletter

In This Issue:

• Targeting Zombie Proteins in the Bullseye of the Easton Center
• Research MD Fellows
• New Addition to the Easton Center
• Clinical Trials
• Upcoming Events

The Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Research and Care at UCLA has very active teams working on basic research, drug discovery, biomarkers for early diagnosis and clinical activity including clinical trials, cognitive testing, and patient care.

Targeting Zombie Proteins in the Bullseye of the Easton Center

By: Sally A. Frautschy, PhD, and Greg M. Cole, PhD, Professors of Neurology at UCLA

Here, we highlight a collaborative project to develop new treatments for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. This initiative was supported by generous donations from Jim and Phyllis Easton, who have a history of building successful teams in both their Easton companies and various sports initiatives, including national and international support for archery and the Olympics, as well as UCLA athletics. The Easton Family founded and continues to support the Mary S. Easton Alzheimer's Center to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork among multiple laboratories across campus and to foster innovative breakthroughs in understanding and treating neurodegenerative diseases.

We sought to design and test a drug targeting the misshapen or misfolded proteins responsible for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and various other neurological diseases collectively known as 'proteinopathies.' While each disease involves unique misshapen proteins, all share the common feature of forming elongated strands or "amyloid fibrils." Like zombies, they transform normal proteins into new zombielike fibrils, a process called 'seeding.' The fibrils then spread from nerve cell to nerve cell, irreversibly disrupting circuits as the diseases progress.

Continue reading the article.