Date/Time
Date(s) - 26/03/2008
3:15 pm - 4:15 pm

Title: Misfolded Proteins, Spherical Mad Cows and the Prion Phenomena

Speaker: Dr. Rajiv Singh

Institute: University of California

Location: ABB 102

Description:

Prions are proteinacious infectious agents believed to be responsible for many deadly neurological disorders (including the Mad Cow epidemic in UK two decades ago). The very concept of `protein-only’ infectious agents raises fundamental issues about our understanding of the molecular basis for life, such as: the energy landscape for protein folding, the stability of protein structure and their templating by other agents. Is there a `most stable’ structure for complex heteropolymers? Is prion protein unique in this respect and what are the mechanisms for protection against misfolded proteins in a cell? Why are propagation timescales highly reproducibile and what is the incubation time for the disease in humans? Many of these represent interesting problems in statistical mechanics, which will be discussed in the presentation.