FURI | Spring 2018

Comparative Assessment of DARPin and scFv for Neurodegenerative Disease Diagnostics

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Beta-amyloid aggregation is one of the hallmark characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease. A4 is one of many scFv antibody fragments that the Sierks Lab has synthesized to bind to beta-amyloid with the goal of detecting and preventing misfolding. Sierks Lab has also developed DARPin and designed Ankyrin repeat proteins that perform the same function, such as ADC7. Using DARPins as opposed to antibody fragments has many advantages, including increased stability. The research objective is to compare the ability of ADC7 (DARPin) and A4 (scFv) proteins to bind to tissue samples of transgenic mice afflicted with neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s disease.

Student researcher

Abigail Call

Chemical engineering

Hometown: Scottsdale, Arizona

Graduation date: Spring 2020

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