Scientists reveal how cells control molecular motors, opening path to neurodegenerative disease treatments

Mutations in kinesin-1 cause neurodegenerative diseases including ALS, Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, and hereditary spastic paraplegia, resulting in paralysis, seizures, blindness, cognitive deficits, and muscle weakness.

Deep within every nerve cell, a molecular machine called kinesin-1 walks ceaselessly along protein tracks, delivering the cargo that keeps neurons alive — and when it fails, the consequences are devastating. Researchers at UC Davis have now, for the first time, seen the precise shape of this machine in its dormant state, revealing how the cell locks and unlocks it with molecular precision. Published in July 2026, the discovery illuminates not only a forty-year mystery of cellular biology, but also the broken switches behind incurable diseases like ALS — and with that clarity comes, at last, a

Scientists reveal how cells control molecular motors, opening path to neurodegenerative disease treatments

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