Your Window into our Science
The ageing chaperome in health and disease
Inside every cell, proteins are constantly being made, shaped, and recycled. Keeping this process in balance is called proteostasis, and it is essential for cellular health. A key part of this system is a group of proteins known as chaperones, which help other proteins fold correctly and prevent them from clumping together.
As cells age, this balance becomes harder to maintain. Damaged and misfolded proteins start to build up, which can interfere with normal cellular function and contribute to diseases such as neurodegeneration.
While scientists have studied many individual parts of this system, we still do not fully understand how everything works together. Our research aims to understand how these processes are coordinated—and how this coordination changes with age.
To do this, we use yeast as a model system. Although simple, yeast cells share many essential processes with human cells. Because yeast grows quickly, it allows us to study ageing in a fast and systematic way.
By combining large-scale experiments with modern technologies, we aim to identify how cells keep their proteins in balance—and why this system fails over time. Understanding this is an important step toward better insight into ageing and age-related disease.
