Protein Homeostasis

Protein Homeostasis comprises all the cellular networks that maintain the proper structure and assembly of the cellular proteome, and it is essential to normal cell function. In the last decade an explosion of discoveries has indicated that imbalances in protein homeostasis are associated with many diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s, as well as many forms of cancer, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, lysosomal storage diseases, and more.

Improved understanding of protein homeostasis has promise of leading to new targets for small molecule modulators, and hence new therapeutic strategies against many of these diseases. Targeting protein homeostasis components also affords the opportunity to develop new antiinfectives, either by intervening with the protein homeostasis components of the pathogen, or targeting components of the host network that are hijacked by a pathogen.

 

Protein Homeostasis

Contact Info

Dan Hebert, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
dhebert@biochem.umass.edu