Date of Award
1-1-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Department
Chemistry and Biochemistry
First Advisor
Martin Margittai, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Michael Kerwin
Third Advisor
Michelle Knowles
Fourth Advisor
David Patterson
Fifth Advisor
Mark Seimans
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Protein aggregation, Tau, Tauopathy
Abstract
The protein Tau is found in neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease and over 20 other neurodegenerative diseases. An assay has been developed to detect minute amounts of fibrils from human brain tissue. This assay subjects brain tissue extract and recombinant Tau to several rounds of sonication and incubation. Incubation allows recombinant Tau to add itself to the ends of the existing fibrils in brain tissue extract. Sonication breaks the existing fibrils in the brain tissue extract offering more ends for Tau to add onto. Cycles of sonication and incubation have been shown to allow for amplification of Tau fibrils from Alzheimer's disease tissue. This assay can be used not only for detection, but also to note differences between tauopathies and to look at various agents that have been shown to block fibril growth.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Recommended Citation
Hager, Emily Rickman, "Improving the Detection Limit of Tau Aggregates for Use with Biological Samples" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1417.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1417
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Rights holder
Emily Rickman Hager
File size
81 p.
Copyright date
2018
File format
application/pdf
Language
en
Discipline
Biostatistics
Included in
Biochemistry Commons, Biostatistics Commons, Other Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons