Innovating Works

Agglomerates

Financiado
Infinite Protein Self Assembly in Health and Disease
Understanding how proteins respond to mutations is of paramount importance to biology and disease. While protein stability and misfolding have been instrumental in rationalizing the impact of mutations, we recently discovered that... Understanding how proteins respond to mutations is of paramount importance to biology and disease. While protein stability and misfolding have been instrumental in rationalizing the impact of mutations, we recently discovered that an alternative route is also frequent, where mutations at the surface of symmetric proteins trigger novel self-interactions that lead to infinite self-assembly. This mechanism can be involved in disease, as in sickle-cell anemia, but may also serve in adaptation. Importantly, it differs fundamentally from aggregation, because misfolding does not drive it. Thus, we term it agglomeration. The ease with which agglomeration can occur, even by single point mutations, shifts the paradigm of how quickly new protein assemblies can emerge, both in health and disease. This prompts us to determine the basic principles of protein agglomeration and explore its implications in cell physiology and human disease. We propose an interdisciplinary research program bridging atomic and cellular scales to explore agglomeration in three aims: (i) Map the landscape of protein agglomeration in response to mutation in endogenous yeast proteins; (ii) Characterize how yeast physiology impacts agglomeration by changes in gene expression or cell state, and, conversely, how protein agglomerates impact yeast fitness. (iii) Analyze agglomeration in relation to human disease via two approaches. First, by predicting single nucleotide polymorphisms that trigger agglomeration, prioritizing them using knowledge from Aims 1 & 2, and characterizing them experimentally. Second, by providing a proof-of-concept that agglomeration can be exploited in drug design, whereby drugs induce its formation, like mutations can do. Overall, through this research, we aim to establish agglomeration as a paradigm for protein assembly, with implications for our understanding of evolution, physiology, and disease. ver más
30/09/2025
UNIGE
3M€
Duración del proyecto: 79 meses Fecha Inicio: 2019-02-25
Fecha Fin: 2025-09-30

Línea de financiación: concedida

El organismo H2020 notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2019-02-25
Línea de financiación objetivo El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
ERC-2018-COG: ERC Consolidator Grant
Cerrada hace 6 años
Presupuesto El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a 3M€
Líder del proyecto
UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico TRL 4-5