Autoproteolytic Amyloid: Implications for new avenues in disease intervention

Amyloid function is essential to the evolution of life and associates with aberrant protein misfolding in the pathology of numerous devastating human neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. I have discovered intrinsic autoproteolysis (self‐hydrolysis) of amyloidogenic peptides related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) amyloid β protein (Aβ). I wish to elucidate on the molecular mechanism of amyloid autoproteolysis and investigate if we can transfer this knowledge to mitigate adverse effects of protein misfolding in neurological disorders such as AD. Answers to these questions will allow for new therapeutic interventions to combat human diseases caused by protein misfolding and furthermore, could substantially support the current notion of amyloid function during early origin of life.