Dr. Klimov Awarded grant from NIH
Dr. Dmitri Klimov, Assistant Professor from the Department of Bioinformatics
and Computational Biology, was awarded the R01 research grant from the National
Institute of Aging (NIH). The total cost of the three year award entitled "Pathways of
Alzheimer's amyloid assembly studied by computer simulations" is nearly $500,000. The
grant also includes almost $100,000 for purchasing high-end computing equipment. The
funded research is centered on computer simulations of molecular mechanisms underpinning
the Alzheimer's disease. Recent experiments suggest that the aggregation of Abeta peptides
into amyloid fibrils plays a central role in the onset of this disorder. However, due to
complexity of amyloid formation the associated molecular mechanisms are scantily understood.
In his research Dr. Klimov will investigate two distinct mechanisms of Alzheimer's
amyloidogenesis - the formation of Abeta oligomers and the elongation of preexisting
Abeta fibrils by deposition of individual peptides. It is expected that the knowledge of
molecular mechanisms of Abeta aggregation revealed through computer simulations will be
used to devise new strategies in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.
Click here to see Mason Gazette article on this.