Marco Zamparo - Università di Padova #
Simplified exactly solvable model for beta-amyloid aggregation #
I propose an exactly solvable simplified statistical mechanical model
for the thermodynamics of beta-amyloid aggregation, generalizing a well-studied model
for protein folding. The monomer concentration is explicitly taken into account as well
as a nontrivial dependence on the microscopic degrees of freedom of the single peptide
chain, both in the alpha-helix folded isolated state and in the fibrillar one. The phase
diagram of the model is studied and compared to the outcome of fibril formation
experiments which is qualitatively reproduced.