2. Fundamental Research for Animal Health and Welfare
We, Sector of Amyloid Research, investigate various amyloid proteins, and how they aggregate and are affected by environmental conditions. For this call, we are particularly interested in the molecular mechanisms of prion proteins (PrP) and how they replicate their amyloid structures. Previously, we showed that PrP can form different strains under identical conditions and the species barrier between human and Syrian hamster PrP can be controlled by a single amino acid mutation. In this context, we are looking to expand our scope to other animals' PrP and search novel/unique pathways to how prion proteins could spread.
The sector of Amyloid Research focuses on biophysical and biochemistry studies. We specialise in protein production and various experiments that come with protein science. This includes investigation of protein properties, secondary structure and measuring fluorescence assays. We are located in the Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University and have access/connections to its infrastructure/groups. (for example different microscopies (AFM, TEM, Cryo-EM), etc.).