Robert W. Berry
Title: Professor
Research area: Tau Protein in Neurodegenerative Disease
Degree: Ph.D., University of Oregon
Voice: 312.503.8019
Fax: 312.503.7912
e-mail: r-berry@northwestern.edu

Detailed research description:                                                                          The intracellular accumulation of abnormal deposits of the microtubule-binding protein, tau, is a common feature of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Working with Professor Lester Binder of this Department, I am attempting to understand how the polymerization of this normally quite soluble protein occurs. One phase of this work involves immunocytochemistry: we are using a variety of antibodies directed to different sites on the tau molecule and to different conformations of the protein to characterize the epitopes displayed in the tau deposits of several neurodegenerative diseases, including progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, Pick's Disease, and frontotemporal dementia. At the same time, in vitro studies using laser light scattering are aimed at characterizing polymerization of tau induced by free fatty acids and the role of oxidation, phosphorylation, and truncation in this process.