Principal Investigators


Clare Bryant

Institution


University of Cambridge

Contact information of lead PI


Country


United Kingdom

Title of project or programme


The molecular basis of the innate response to oligomers of beta amyloid and alpha synuclein

Source of funding information


Alzheimer's Research UK

Total sum awarded (Euro)


€ 284,180

Start date of award


01/09/2014

Total duration of award in years


3.4

Keywords


Research Abstract


The innate immune response is our first line of defence against disease and protects the brain from infection. It appears to play an important role in the development of neurodegenerative disease switching from being protective to being destructive.  The cells that are responsible for this response are called microglia and the aim of this project is to work out how they respond to the small clumps of proteins that cause Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease as the number of clumps or size of clumps increases. This will be done by directly watching the receptors on the surface of microglia interacting with the protein clumps and then by following how these cells respond and signal. This should enable us to work out the molecular basis of the response, why the response of microglia changes in the disease and how this might be prevented.

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