CIC bioGUNE researcher
Ugo Mayor

Researchers from the Centre for Cooperative Research in Biosciences, CIC bioGUNE, have developed a new technique to identify modified proteins in neurones of a living organism. This opens a new framework to a better understanding of molecular processes leading to pathologies such as cancer or neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer or Parkinson.

Protein modification by ubiquitin is a key procedure in many cell processes and its deregulation can lead to these pathologies. Ubiquitin is a small protein used by cells to determine the fate of the remaining cell proteins, to organise where they are located, to decide which proteins they collaborate with and to order their self-destruction.

The outcome of this research, led by Dr. Ugo Mayor, has been published in the journal Molecular & Cellular Proteomics and will have a direct impact on studies focusing on proteins with a relevant role in the creation of neuronal connections.

"If our work helps understand the molecular and cellular fundamentals of certain neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer or Parkinson, we would have taken a key step forward in the diagnosis, treatment and cure of these diseases", states Dr. Ugo Mayor. Molecular processes deriving from these pathologies are still unknown, partly because there was no reliable and robust method for identification of ubiquitinated neuronal proteins until now, not even in culture cells.

Dr. Ugo Mayor, who joined CIC bioGUNE one year ago, started the project five years ago while researching at the University of Cambridge, UK, supported by the Royal Society.