Prof. Neville Vassallo delivered an invited lecture at a distinguished ZOOM®inar symposium on the “Molecular Bases of Proteinopathies”. With over 1,000 registered participants, the weekly ZOOM®inar meetings bring together scientific leaders from across the globe to discuss recent breakthroughs in the field of protein misfolding and associated diseases. Protein misfolding disorders (PMDs) comprise a diverse group of diseases defined by a process involving the self-assembly of proteins into pathological aggregates. Examples of such disorders include Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and type-2 diabetes mellitus.
Prof. Vassallo was invited on the basis of his “excellent contributions to this area of research” – Professor Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy (Professor of Chemistry and Biophysics at the University of Michigan, USA). In his presentation, Prof. Vassallo spoke about how research conducted at his laboratory in the University of Malta is supportive of the view that the protein aggregates most relevant to causing toxicity are most likely represented by the smaller, soluble species formed early during the aggregative process – generally referred to as ‘oligomers’. Prof. Vassallo summarised his group’s work and described how they uncovered a mechanism of toxicity shared by oligomers derived from different amyloidogenic proteins, such as amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau in Alzheimer’s disease, α-synuclein (α-syn) in Parkinson’s disease, and the human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) in type- 2 diabetes mellitus.
The mechanism involved oligomers forming “holes” (or pores) in the outer boundary of mitochondria and causing leakage of their contents. Prof. Vassallo pointed out how this mechanism is remarkably reminiscent of the action of certain bacterial toxins and natural cytotoxins. Future work in Prof. Vassallo’s lab is geared towards using multidisciplinary methods to understand better the oligomer interaction with mitochondria, and to develop small-molecule therapeutics aimed at preventing oligomer toxicity.
Prof. Vassallo acknowledged grant support for his research by the Malta Council for Science and Technology through the “Research Excellence Programme”, the University of Malta (PHBR06), the Tertiary Education Scholarship Scheme (TESS), and the A.X. Foundation.
Further details about the symposium can be found .
