Helping cells clear damaged proteins to support healthy aging and disease care
Leveraging ubiquitin-dependent regulatory mechanisms to improve proteome quality in health and disease
This project looks for ways to help cells remove faulty, toxic proteins so people with aging-related brain diseases and some cancers may keep cells healthier.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California, San Diego NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (La Jolla, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11313837 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
As a patient, you'll hear that researchers are studying the cellular cleanup systems that tag and destroy damaged proteins, focusing on ubiquitin-driven mechanisms. They use cell models and molecular tools to map how quality control spots or misses faulty proteins and how that changes with aging or in cancer. The team plans to find molecular switches that can be turned up to boost cleanup or turned down to limit cleanup when that would help treatments. Results could guide future therapies to restore healthy protein balance in neurodegeneration or make cancer cells less able to survive.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Potential future participants or beneficiaries would include people with age-related neurodegenerative diseases (for example Alzheimer's or Parkinson's) or cancers linked to proteostasis dysfunction.
Not a fit: People with conditions unrelated to protein misfolding or proteostasis (such as many acute infections or purely structural heart problems) are unlikely to benefit from this line of work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to treatments that reduce toxic protein clumps in neurodegenerative diseases or make cancer cells more vulnerable by changing protein quality control.
How similar studies have performed: Some prior research targeting cellular protein clearance has shown promise in laboratory and animal models, but this focused work on ubiquitin-dependent quality control mechanisms is relatively novel and exploratory.
Where this research is happening
La Jolla, United States
- University of California, San Diego — La Jolla, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Bennett, Eric J — University of California, San Diego
- Study coordinator: Bennett, Eric J
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.