Engineers probe mechanics behind rapid-aging disease
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - 13:30
in Biology & Nature
Researchers are using both civil engineering and bioengineering approaches to study the behavior of a protein associated with progeria, a rare disorder in children that causes extremely rapid aging and usually ends in death from cardiovascular disease before age 16. The disease is marked by the deletion of 50 amino acids near the end of the lamin A protein, which helps support a cell's nuclear membrane. Pulling the tail of mutated protein could help illuminate problems with misfolding.