Research Projects

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) are two progressive dementias that become more severe with age. In India, about 4 million people live with AD, while 61.3 million suffer from T2DM. The aggregation of misfolded proteins is a common hallmark feature for both diseases, and developing a treatment strategy targeting the aggregation/misfolding of A? and IAPP could be a fruitful approach against both linked diseases. A lab has developed novel methods for one-step synthesis of gold nanoparticles and started studies on discovering effective dual therapeutic agents for AD and associated diseases. The proposed work focuses on the development of nano-chaperones as dual therapeutic agents for the treatment of T2DM and AD. Chaperones, such as GroEL and GroES, bind to unfolded proteins via electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions to prevent protein aggregation and aid in the recovery of the proteins' original shape. Some nanoparticles may function as chaperones to enhance the effectiveness of protein folding. Several amino acids like arginine, proline, histidine, and alanine may also act as inhibitors of protein aggregation. The proposed study is expected to provide nano-chaperones in the form of gold nanoparticles with the ability to suppress aggregation. Protein refolding ability of these nano-chaperones will be studied before testing them for in vitro anti-aggregation potential against AD and IAPP. Additionally, AD and T2DM animal models will serve as in vivo training grounds for these nano-chaperones.