A new way of working
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Nathan Pitt, ©University of Cambridge
hemistry of Health hosts one of the only incubators to be completely integrated into a UK chemistry department. Professor Michele Vendruscolo, Director of Chemistry of Health, explains why this unique set-up works.
CMD co-director Michele Vendruscolo.
What is the Chemistry of Health building?
What does the CMD’s research involve?
About 15 years ago, with our colleague [the late] Professor Chris Dobson and our industrial partners at the time, we saw that a unique mix of interdisciplinary research and industrial resources would be needed to tackle the growing threat of protein misfolding disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The Chemistry of Health building was the result of his vision.
We have several ongoing research programmes into Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and other misfolding diseases. The approach that we have taken is to prevent the formation of misfolded protein oligomers, which are particularly toxic small aggregates that play a major role in the build-up of the protein deposits associated with these diseases. The approval of aducanumab by the FDA in June, which is the first disease-modifying drug for Alzheimer’s, is a crucial validation of our approach, because it works with a similar mechanism of action as the drugs we that are developing here, by reducing the number of oligomers produced during the aggregation process. Many other different therapeutic strategies are still being investigated for this disease, but none of them has led to an approved drug so far – so it has been crucial to see that the route that we have taken has been validated.
Who occupies the Chemistry of Health? The Chemistry of Health incubator is on the ground floor and the Centre for Misfolding Diseases is on the second and third floors. The Molecular Production and Characterisation Centre, which offers biophysical instrumentation, fermentation, microscopy and tissue culture labs, is in the basement.
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