Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in Western societies. While the reasons for the disease are under debate, amyloid structures derived either from Aß peptide or τ protein and are thought to be crucial for disease onset. Our institute studies the structure of Aß peptide and the cellular effects caused by specific assembly states of this peptide.

Selected references:

Haupt C, Leppert J, Rönicke R, Meinhardt J, Yadav JK, Ramachandran R, Ohlenschläger O, Reymann KG, Görlach M, Fändrich M
Structural basis of β-Amyloid-Dependent Synaptic Dysfunctions.
Angewandte Chemie Int. Edt. 2012, 51, 1576-1579

Wacker J, Rönicke R, Westermann M, Wulff M, Reymann KG, Dobson CM, Horn U, Crowther DC, Luheshi LM, Fändrich M
Oligomer-targeting with a conformational antibody fragment promotes toxicity in Aβ-expressing flies.
Acta Neuropathologica Communications 2014, 2:43

Upadhaya AR, Kosterin I, Kumar S, von Arnim CAF, Yamaguchi H, Fändrich M, Walter J, Thal DR
Biochemical stages amyloid-β peptide aggregation and accumulation in the human brain and its association with symptomatic and pathologically preclinical Alzheimer's disease.
Brain 2014, 137, 887-903

Thal DR, Walter J, Saido TC, Fändrich M
Neuropathology and biochemistry of Aß and its aggregates in Alzheimer’s disease.
Acta Neuropathol 2015, 129, 167-182