Why it’s Important

To understand diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, scientists need to understand the workings of associated genes and the proteins they produce. This collection of plasmids from the Fawzi lab allow scientists to study these two neurodegeneration proteins in order to understand, on an atomic level, how they are built and how they behave. This detailed information on structure and function can identify targets for new treatments.

What it Does

In people with certain neurodegenerative diseases, the proteins produced by the TDP-43 and FUS genes clump together. Fawzi lab plasmids create these proteins in their original form, before they clump. This allows researchers to study their normal function and the clump-forming process in the lab.

Where it’s Used

More than 600 plasmid samples from the Fawzi Lab have been distributed across the United States – including labs at Harvard, Stanford and University of California, Berkeley – and around the world, including to scientists in England, Germany, India, China, Japan and Argentina. Plasmids that produce proteins from the TDP-43 and FUS genes have each been distributed to more than 100 labs worldwide.