Metal-induced Structural Transformations during Alpha Synuclein Aggregation

The hypothesis to be tested in this five year project is that exposure to heavy metals induces structural changes in the alpha-synuclein protein, which leads to an accelerated formation of insoluble fibrillar aggregates.The research focuses on the role of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) on the formation of alpha-synuclein fibrills, a protein that plays a critical role in the onset and development of Parkinson disease.