Sorting out Parkinson's protein structure

Clumps of proteins that accumulate in brain cells are a hallmark of neurological diseases such as dementia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Over the past several years, there has been much controversy over the structure of one of those proteins, known as alpha synuclein. Scientists at MIT and Brandeis have been deeply involved in the research. An update on the work has just been published in Science Daily, and a report on the efforts of the Brandeis researchers was posted earlier on BrandeisNOW.