Annadurai Narendran M.Sc., Ph.D.

Identification and Characterisation of Tau minimal regions as Potential Pharmacological Targets against Tau Spreading in Tauopathies

Understanding the mechanisms of tau aggregation, propagation and cellular machinery involved in aggregated tau degradation would help identify therapeutic targets for tauopathies (Alzheimer’s disease, PSP, CTE, FTLD, etc.) and other neurodegenerative diseases. The thesis is focused on studying tau aggregate spreading mechanisms and identifying small molecule inhibitors of tau misfolding and aggregation using in vitro aggregation assays, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry and microscopy techniques. I am also working on validating small molecules (selected from in vitro MARK4 kinase activity inhibition assay) on inhibiting microtubule affinity regulating kinase 4 (MARK4) mediated tau phosphorylation using a cell line model.

I earned my M.Sc. in Biotechnology from St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli, India. I worked as a Project Assistant at divisions of Toxicology and Microbiology at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, India and as a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, United Kingdom. I joined IMTM, Olomouc, in 2015, and I am interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms of protein (tau, α-synuclein) aggregation and its propagation.