Intracellular protein aggregates of the microtubule-associated protein tau can be observed in Alzheimer’s disease. Recent studies have suggested that these aggregates have the ability to spread from cell to cell in a prion-like manner, which may drive disease progression. Preventing the transmission of aggregates therefore presents a possibility to slow down progression of the disease. We suggest to stop spreading by boosting the quality control network of the cells exposed to the aggregates. We hypothesize that this can prevent the amplification of aggregates inside cells when the cellular quality control network is not yet overwhelmed by the presence of large amounts of aggregates.

This project aims to identify components of the cellular quality control machinery that can interfere with disease associated tau aggregates. We expect to identify novel factors that reduce amplification of intracellular tau seeds, and will represent potential drug targets.