Together with Japanese colleagues, biophysicists at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) and Jülich Research Centre have examined the folding of specific proteins in yeast fungi. They discovered similar mechanisms to those found in prions, i.e. proteins that are misfolded and can trigger neurodegenerative diseases. From the prions in yeast, the researchers were able to acquire new insights into the misfolding of these harmful proteins. Their results have been published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).