Highlighting a campus-wide research effort to understand the nervous system using a broad array of powerful approaches.

Understanding how the protein tau moves between neurons yields insight into possible treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

By Sonia Fernandez

In the fight against neurodegenerative diseases such as frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, the tau protein is a major culprit. Found abundantly in our brain cells, tau is normally a team player — it maintains structure and stability within neurons, and it helps with transport of nutrients from one part of the cell to another.