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Alzheimer’s Drug Breakthrough D ementia is becoming more common in society as we live longer. Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of dementia, responsible for 60-80 % of cases. It is predicted to affect 150 million people worldwide in less than 30 years. New drug leads, discovered by a multidisciplinary team and led by scientists at the University of Sheffield including the Chen group. The work improves on previous approaches and is a step towards developing new treatments for this debilitating disease. The causes of Alzheimer’s Disease are complex, but it is known that two rogue versions of natural proteins are involved. The first, called amyloid beta (Aβ), triggers the formation of plaque
around brain cells, preventing them from communicating properly. The second, called Tau, forms toxic tangles inside the brain cell which stops it from transporting essential nutrients.
new drug leads, through a multistep molecular-sifting process, that not only bind to Aβ, but block its interaction with PrPc and disrupts the formation of Tau tangles.
Scientists believe a third molecule, called PrPc, is responsible as when it binds to the rogue Aβ it leads to the distinctive cognitive impairment and neurotoxicity seen in Alzheimer’s disease.
The team now hopes to gain funding to further their research by optimising these new compounds into drug candidates for pre-clinical and clinical studies.
Together, Aβ, Tau and PrPc are seen as the three pillars which cause Alzheimer’s disease. Yet, most recent drug trials for Alzeimer’s Disease have only targeted Aβ, by trying to prevent it causing plaques and inducing Tau to start tangling. This approach has so far proved to be unsuccessful. The Sheffield team has identified two
Shedding New Light on Organic Semiconducters
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esearchers have published a new study that gives scientists a better understanding of the processes driving spectral conversion in organic materials. The study helps to explain how high
13 Resonance Issue 14
|| Spring 2021
energy photons can be converted to pairs of low energy photons, and vice versa, through the processes of down-conversion and up-conversion. This knowledge could be used to make more efficient solar cells and have useful biological applications.
Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Department of Chemistry, focussed on a form of down-conversion called singlet exciton fission, and the same process in reverse, known as triplet-triplet annihilation. In the study, led by Dr J. Clark and published in Nature Chemistry, researchers investigated the 1(TT) state in triplet-triplet annihilation, using two different classes of materials. Experiments were carried out in the University of Sheffield’s Lord Porter Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy Laboratory. The paper associated with this research can be found at the following link, why not take the time to give it a read: https://go.nature.com/2Pfr6XG
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