Neurodegenerative Diseases and Protein Aggregation
More than 15 severe diseases that lead to degeneration of human brain or other nervous tissue are caused by accumulation of misfolded proteins. The normal folding of the proteins is replaced by an abnormal form which is called the amyloid form. A detailed molecular understanding of how these abnormal forms occur, and how they are propagated, has important implications for medicine.

Prions
One of the most remarkable kinds of amyloid disease is caused by prions. What is unusual is that these diseases are inherited not by exposure to cells, DNA or RNA, but rather by the presence of a misfolded, amyloid protein, which propagates the disease. In other words, unlike the usual flow of information from DNA or RNA for viruses or other pathogens, prion diseases are caused by the presence of a protein, which in turn, generates additional misfolded proteins of a similar kind. Understanding the ways in which prions can act as seeds for amyloid diseases is a major focus of prion research.