Bhubaneswar Mandal
Associate Professor
Title: Novel and innovative strategies for peptide based drug design against Alzheimer’s disease
Biography
Biography: Bhubaneswar Mandal
Abstract
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), a common amyloidosis, has no cure yet. Pathological investigations revealed existence of numerousrnplaques in the Alzheimer’s patients’ brain composed of Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides, derived from Amyloid Precursor Proteinsrn(APPs). Although the mechanism of plaque formation is unknown, AD is believed to be caused by the aggregation of misfoldedrnAβ peptides. β-breaker peptides have been developed that disrupt amyloid aggregates (plaques) in vitro as well as in vivo. We haverndeveloped two novel and innovative strategies for β-breaker peptide design. First one is based on the concept of β-sheet breaker α/βrnhybrid peptides (BSBHps); and the second one on the concept of β-Breaker Di-Peptides (BBDPs). We have demonstrated that suchrnwell designed peptides are capable of inhibition of amyloid formation of Aβ peptide. Also, they disrupt preformed toxic fibrillarrnaggregates into non toxic species in vitro. Such peptides may be useful for designing novel drugs against diverse amyloidoses includingrnAlzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes type II. Recent advancements in this direction of research will be discussed inrnthe Pharma Summit-2015.