Michel Rasmussen

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a neurodegenerative disorder. During PSP healthy tau proteins convert into toxic tau seeds that assemble into tau fibrils which eventually form inclusions that are deadly to the cells – this process is called tau seeding (Toxic tau seeds -> Tau fibrils -> Deadly tau inclusions).

This project aims to map the minute levels of tau seeds in postmortem human PSP brains. By assessing the temporal, regional, and cellular tau seeding capacity, we will create a highly needed spatiotemporal map of toxic tau seeds spreading. This will allow us to detect the initial points of toxic tau seeds and the temporality of the tau spreading that we can correlate to the pathological trajectory and provide a platform for advanced tau brain imaging.