A Set on edgi
Alzheimer's Is Bad Origami
A protein is just a chain folded into a shape. Fold it wrong and it can take your mind, or spread like an infection with no DNA at all.
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Protein folding
Proteins fold from simple amino acid chains into functional 3D shapes within milliseconds, driven by sequence, water, and chemical bonds.
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Proteostasis
Proteostasis is the cell's system for balancing the creation, folding, and destruction of all its proteins.
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Autophagy
Autophagy is the cell's waste recycling system.
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Amyloid beta
Amyloid beta is a small protein fragment naturally produced and released by brain cells every day.
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Tau protein
Tau protein stabilizes the internal skeleton of nerve cells, but clumps into neurofibrillary tangles during dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
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Prion
A prion is an infectious misfolded protein that forces healthy proteins of the same type to fold into its own abnormal shape.