Proteostasis: From Basic Principles to Aging and Neurodegeneration

The control of cellular protein homeostasis, also called Proteostasis, is emerging as the central cellular process controlling the stability, function and quality control of the proteome and central to our understanding of a vast range of diseases. The proteostasis machinery maintains the function of destabilized and mutant proteins; assists the degradation of damaged and aggregated proteins and monitors the health of the proteome, adjusting it in response to environmental or metabolic stresses. Proteostasis disfunction is linked to diseases ranging from neurodegeneration to aging.This class will introduce students to the exciting cutting edge discoveries in this field through presentations by leaders in the field and discussions of primary literature illustrating how understanding proteostasis can be leveraged to understand fundamental biological processes, such as evolution and aging and to ameliorate a wide range of diseases.