Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have identified a potential new strategy for fighting back against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and it targets a stage of disease that current therapeutics do not reach: the moment before toxic protein aggregates form at all.
The study, published in Nature Communications and reported by ScienceDaily on June 21, 2026, found that tubulin — the fundamental building block of microtubules, the internal "railway tracks" that neurons use to transport nutrients, signals, and waste — can prevent both Tau and alpha-synuclein from forming the toxic aggregates that drive neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, respectively.
