Peter Andreana
University of Toledo, OH·Chemistry
Alzheimer's disease (AD) slowly destroys memory. It is linked to two harmful proteins that build up in the brain: amyloid-β, which forms clumps, and tau, which forms tangles when it gains extra phosphate groups.
- Fields
Chemistry
Neuroscience
Pharmacology
- Topics
Alzheimer's disease
L-rhamnose
rare sugars
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Design and synthesize L-rhamnose (L-Rha) dimers, trimers, and oligomers, plus L-Rha linked to glucose or glucuronic acid, using microwave-assisted chemistry to obtain pure compounds in high yield.
- Test the hypothesis that specific attached sugars and chain sizes of L-Rha have the strongest effects on growth and gene-control factors in neurons linked to new neuron formation and Alzheimer's disease.
- Determine whether L-Rha activates Nrf2, the master regulator of cellular antioxidant defenses, and reduces the enzymes PKB and GSK, which help control phosphorylated tau and amyloid-β.
More about the research
L-rhamnose (L-Rha) is a rare sugar, and molecules containing it have shown unusual effects on AD. It is still unclear how the sugar acts on neurons, the brain's signaling cells. Most past studies used mixtures of rhamnose-rich sugar chains extracted from plants and bacteria. With mixtures, it is hard to tell what L-Rha itself, or any single defined molecule built from it, actually does.
Why it matters
People with Alzheimer's disease could eventually benefit if defined rhamnose-based molecules prove able to protect neurons and reduce tau and amyloid-β. The work may point to new drug candidates and clarify how this rare sugar affects the brain. The synthesis methods would also give researchers pure, well-defined sugar compounds in place of mixtures extracted from plants or bacteria.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Riqiang Yan
University of Connecticut, CT·Neuroscience
Identify potent short peptides from the CX3CL1 C-terminal domain (CX3CL1-ICD), a neuron-protecting protein region, that reduce Alzheimer's pathology and cell death in neurons and AD mouse models.
Joseph Quinn
Oregon Health & Science University, OR·Neuroscience
Collect and provide DNA, plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and cerebrospinal fluid from healthy controls, people with mild cognitive impairment and people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Puja Agarwal
Rush University, IL·Public Health & Epidemiology
Examine whether long-term diet, nutrients and flavonoids relate to activated microglia, the brain's immune cells, in the hippocampus and mid-frontal cortex of autopsied brains from community cohorts of older adults.
The school
University of Toledo: 10 labs on PI Pages, $73M a year on research, 120 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.