Richard Fisher, NeuroPhage, to Speak at Neurodegenerative R&D Conference, Sept. 18-19, SF

Top Quote Richard Fisher, CSO of NeuroPhage Pharmaceutical, to Speak at 8th Neurodegenerative Conditions Research & Development Conference, Sept. 18-19, 2014 in San Francisco. End Quote
  • San Francisco, CA (1888PressRelease) May 05, 2014 - Richard Fisher will speak about "Targeting Misfolded Proteins In Vitro and In Vivo with Immunoglobulin-General Amyloid Interaction Motif (Ig-GAIM) Molecules" at the 8th Neurodegenerative Conditions Research & Development Conference, to be held September 18-19, 2014 in San Francisco.

    One of the central features of the pathobiology of neurodegenerative diseases is protein misfolding that produces assemblies of toxic and transmissible aggregates. A serendipitous discovery that direct exposure to filamentous bacteriophage M13 mediates reductions of both Aβ and tau deposits in brains of transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, has led to a search for the mechanism. Dr. Fisher will share how the NeuroPhage team has isolated and characterized a fragment of the phage capsid protein responsible for the amyloid targeting activities of M13. The team has shown that an immunoglobulin fusion of this motif (Ig-GAIM) recapitulates the efficacy of M13 both in vitro and in transgenic Alzheimer's disease model mice following chronic systemic administration for 10-14 weeks.

    Assays for amyloid fiber remodeling, fiber assembly inhibition, and neuroprotection from cytotoxic oligomers suggest this protein motif mediates these activities by potently preventing edge-to-edge beta strand aggregation. This targeting hypothesis is further substantiated by NMR H/D exchange spectroscopy of complexes of fibrilar Aβ and the capsid protein and by binding specificity studies on an array of misfolded and natively folded proteins. The Ig-GAIM fusions represent a novel, potent, and specific therapeutic candidate for reducing pathologic misfolded protein assemblies that are central players in neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Fisher will propose a new approach to Phase 1-2 clinical testing of Ig-GAIM.

    For more information about the conference, please visit www.gtcbio.com/neurodegen2014.

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