Infrared nanospectroscopy to understand and combat Alzheimer's disease

ongoing

Neurodegenerative diseases are a ticking time-bomb for health care systems because they are care-intensive and will soon become much more wide-spread due to increased life expectancy. Their most common form is Alzheimer's disease (AD), in which the amyloid-ß (Aß) peptide aggregates to amyloid fibers that accumulate in plaques in the human brain. We will study unresolved key aspects of AD in order to understand and eventually combat the disease. The objectives are: 1. To map the biochemical composition of plaques with unprecedented spatial resolution in order to understand the role of lipids in plaque organization and development - possibly leading to a biochemistry-based classification of these brain lesions, 2. To characterize co–aggregates of Aß with other amyloidogenic polypeptides, which may link different diseases and improve diagnosis, 3. To improve anti-amyloid peptides for a possible new AD treatment by characterizing and optimizing their interaction with Aß, and 4. To establish isotope-edited nanoscale infrared (IR) imaging as a versatile tool to characterize chemically similar components of mixtures. We will exploit the advantages of novel approaches in IR spectroscopy to move the field forward in areas that are difficult for more common methods. IR nanospectroscopy with 20 nm spatial resolution will be used throughout and will be combined for the Aß studies with isotope-edition and with Fourier transform IR spectroscopy. The supervisor is a well-know expert in biological IR spectroscopy and has recently established all approaches in his work. I, as the researcher, will be trained in advanced IR spectroscopy as well as in transferable skills, incl. leadership, and in pedagogics. The expertise in IR nanospectroscopy will particularly promote my career because the technique is about to revolutionize chemical imaging and has many applications in basic and applied science. For the same reason, also the EU will benefit from additional experts in this technique.