Research summary
Parkinson’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are incurable and devastating neurodegenerative disorders. In both diseases, proteins in the brain clump together to form aggregates. These aggregates can exist as distinct structural states, or “strains.” As Canada Research Chair in Protein Misfolding Disorders, Dr. Joel Watts’ aim is to understand the spectrum of distinct strains that can form during these diseases.
To accomplish this goal, he and his research team are using proteins produced in bacteria and cutting-edge animal models. This will provide them with new insights into the earliest events in Parkinson’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Ultimately, their findings could lead to new treatment strategies and enable a personalized medicine approach for combatting these diseases.