Amyloids, abnormal fibrillar aggregates of proteins, are associated with various disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of amyloid formation is critical for developing clinical strategies and drugs against these diseases. However, accumulating evidence suggests that amyloid formation processes and the consequent morphology of fibrils can be affected by various environmental factors. This is an obstacle for the integrative understanding of the mechanisms underlying amyloid formations. As gravity causes convectional perturbations in the microenvironments surrounding amyloid fibrils in solution, it may unavoidably affect the processes of molecular assembling.
Source:
https://phys.org/news/2020-06-amyloid-formation-international-space-station.html