Project description
Tau interactions in health and disease
The Tau protein is predominantly expressed in neurons and associates with the cytoskeleton to maintain cell structure and polarity. In Alzheimer’s disease, Tau becomes abnormally modified, misfolds and forms toxic aggregates that disrupt brain function. While its role in advanced stages of the disease is known, it remains unclear how Tau changes to become toxic. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Tau-Stick2Me project aims to investigate early interactions of Tau before it forms pathological tangles. Using advanced biochemical and proteomic tools, researchers hope to identify the proteins that interact with Tau and determine how this interplay changes in pathology. Project insights could reveal new molecular targets for neurodegenerative diseases.
Objective
The Tau protein during Alzheimer's disease (AD) becomes hyperphosphorylated, misfolds, and aggregates into neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Despite knowing the involvement of Tau in AD, the exact mechanism that drives Tau-mediated toxicity is largely unclear. Studying the Tau interactome is an excellent way to decipher the mechanism of Tau toxicity. Most interactome studies have primarily focused on Tau interactions related to NFTs, which represent the mature form of aggregated Tau. This emphasis has led to the overlooking of early-stage Tau interactions, mainly due to the lack of tools to access early Tau forms. My aim is to investigate the Tau interactome at these early stages, which are crucial in AD pathology.
I hypothesize that extensive phosphorylation of Tau in the early stages of AD significantly alters its protein interaction network. This alteration contributes to Tau aggregation and subsequent toxicity in AD. To address this hypothesis, I will use an interdisciplinary approach to systematically identify interacting proteins associated with early Tau forms (non-phosphorylated, site-specifically phosphorylated, and hyperphosphorylated). I will use a protein semisynthesis technique to generate early Tau forms and employ affinity purification-mass spectrometry to identify the interactome associated with them from human brain tissue. Unique interacting proteins of Tau forms detected from the proteomic data, will be assessed in high-throughput Tau biosensor-based cellular screening to identify potential Tau aggregation modifiers. Finally, in vitro biophysical studies will be conducted to characterize the molecular interactions between Tau modifiers and Tau forms. The findings from this project will advance our mechanistic understanding of Tau phosphorylations in AD, elucidate the complex molecular interactions and pathways involved, and pave the way for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies targeting early Tau interactome.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology dementia alzheimer
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pathology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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9052 ZWIJNAARDE - GENT
Belgium
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