Fichou Lab

Research focus

ERC Starting Grant · 2021

Cofactors at the core of tau prion behaviour

Tau is an intrinsically disordered protein that regulates microtubule activity in neurons. Aggregation of tau into amyloid fibrils is diagnostic of several diseases, termed tauopathies, that include Alzheimer's disease. Distinct amyloid aggregate structures, so-called "strains", are involved in different tauopathies. These assemblies can spread and recapitulate pathological phenotypes when injected in cells and animals. This is the hallmark that tau aggregates follow a prion behaviour. To date, the factors guiding the formation or propagation of specific strains are unknown. Showcasing this crucial gap in knowledge is the fact that none of the brain-extracted tau amyloid structures has been…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.