Experimenting with #ThT stain on #spider webs to see if it successfully bonds to the beta chain #fibrin / #amyloid like components. I've applied the stain and naturally under 460nm webs fluoresce the expected green. I'm waiting for the sample to completely dry before differentiating with alcohol and then using a water based mount to finally disassociate the unbounded stain from the webs and other artefacts. All being so, we might be left with ThT stained #spidroins #science #biology #microscopy
#3goodthings
Another sunny day
Lunch with some of my cousins to meet the cousin who lives in Thailand and has a Thai wife and daughter
Watched a documentary about #Alzheimers and #amyloid research presented by Sally Magusson.
started a #wikipedia article on biochemist Lawreen Connors (1954-2024), director of the Amyloidosis Center at Boston University: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawreen_Connors @wikiwomeninred #WomeninSTEM #BostonUniversity @bostoncollege @tuftsuniversity #WoburnMA #OgdensburgNY #amyloid #amyloidosis #Diedin2024
Honored to keep company with #neurologist, #DanielGibbs's book about his own experience of #dementia. The tattoo in the title is the #brain bleed (aka #ARIA) that occurred while in #clinicaltrials related to anti-#amyloid drugs. He has no regrets & would do it all over again if it might advance brain science & help in the effort to #ENDALZ.
If you have read either my #memoir or his, please consider reviewing them on #amazon. In different ways, we both aim to inform readers & undercut #stigma.
What is known as the #prodromal phase, the years when #Alzheimer's is attacking the brain but the clinical presentations may not yet be apparent. "One early hallmark is that sticky protein called beta-amyloid, which over time builds up into brain-clogging #plaques. #Amyloid alone isn’t enough to damage memory — plenty of healthy people’s brains harbor a lot of plaque. An abnormal #tau protein that forms neuron-killing tangles is one of several co-conspirators."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/silent-brain-changes-precede-alzheimers-221628452.html
Why diagnose someone with #Alzheimer's who has no memory issues but a build-up of #tau and/or #amyloid protein? Here's why. In a Nov, call with Wall St. analysts, Masoud Toloue, the chief executive at Quanterix, pointed out that the company’s blood test for tau — p-Tau 217 — had been recommended by the panel for diagnosing the disease. “We believe we’re in a strong position to capitalize on these opportunities,” Toloue said. "Opportunities"? Sickening.
… we hope that our new #preprint can help us better understand and visualize the thin filaments. We clearly see the #amyloid type structure of the fibril core, which makes them super stable, also in cells and patient brains. We also see the stuff on the fibril surface, which is expected to mediate cluster formation and toxic interactions, but can also be handles for proteins that clear the toxic proteins and/or detoxify them in some way. Much more to be studied! #biophysics #structuralbiology
The latest results of our #huntingtonsdisease research program is now on #bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.21.549993v1. Title: Integrative determination of the atomic structure of mutant huntingtin exon 1 fibrils from Huntington's disease.
It describes the structure of #amyloid fibrils formed by the mutant protein behind Huntington’s disease. We teamed up with the group of Markus Miettinen at the University of Bergen (prev. MPI colloids at Potsdam @maxplanckgesellschaft. #structuralbiology #biophysics
Disease Modifying Therapy for #Alzheimer's #Dementia
"The long-awaited era of disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer’s disease has finally arrived and will substantially impact how the disease is perceived and managed. The drugs closest to widespread clinical implementation are #lecanemab and #donanemab—intravenous #MonoclonalAntibodies that remove β #amyloid plaques from the #brain and can slow cognitive and functional decline."
#leqembi
https://cnmri.com/2023/07/21/disease-modifying-therapy-for-alzheimers/
Our @biorxivpreprint on the #cryoEM structures of #alphasynuclein #amyloid filaments from a case of jovenile-onset-synucleinopathy is now online in #ActaNeuropathologica. 
https://rdcu.be/c6wAP
"The amyloid cascade hypothesis was simple and “seductively compelling,” said Scott Small, the director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Columbia University. And the idea of aiming drugs at the amyloid plaques to stop or prevent the progression of the disease took the field by storm.
Decades of work and billions of dollars went into funding clinical trials of dozens of drug compounds that targeted amyloid plaques. Yet almost none of the trials showed meaningful benefits to patients with the disease."
#Alzheimer #Amyloid #Amyloidhypothesis
https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-causes-alzheimers-scientists-are-rethinking-the-answer-20221208/
Mechanic