Umit Akbey, PhD

The aim of Akbey Lab is to understand molecular mechanisms of amyloid fibrils in health and disease. Amyloid fibrils are known for causing pathological neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s (via a-Beta) or Parkinson’s (via alpha-S). A subgroup of amyloid have specific biological functions in living organisms, so named as functional amyloids. My research focuses on two main areas related to amyloid fibrils: 1) pathological neurodegenerative amyloids and 2) functional bacterial amyloids involved in biofilm-formation that are a major cause of persistent infections and an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) target. We aim to determine atomic resolution structures and molecular dynamics information towards a better understanding of amyloid formation, fundamental forces direct their assembly and disassembly, and the prevention/modification of them by small molecules and chaperones. These information will pave the way towards future treatments against neurodegeneration, bacterial infections, and their antimicrobial resistance.

We use modern solid state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy and Cryo-EM methods to study these insoluble/non-crystalline proteins. We develop novel methods to push the limits of the state of the art and apply them to understand molecular details and mechanisms of amyloid fibrils. ssNMR has made a remarkable progress in the last decade to become a high-resolution and -sensitivity method due to advances in sample preparation, hardware, novel methods. Combination Cryo-EM with NMR, we have a unique position in studying these difficult systems not only in vitro, but also in their complex native in vivo environment.