Research & Teaching
- Investigating the fundamental nature of the infectious agent that causes transmissible encephalopathies (TSEs), especially those causing different varieties of human Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. What are the key structural and molecular components of these agents and how do they provoke neurodegenerative disease?
We think the evidence strongly favors an infectious ~25nm virus that evokes pathological change in the normal host prion protein. The evidence for the popularized prion hypothesis (that host prion protein spontaneously transforms into a causal infectious agent) has been very questionable (see references). - Developing universally effective and simple procedures to contain the spread of TSEs among humans and animals. Agents studied include CJD and BSE variants (of cows) as well as scrapie (of sheep).
- New ways to diagnose TSEs, as well as developing innovative preventive therapeutic strategies.
- Training and educating the public about TSEs and their comparison with other types of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.
- Contributing to neuropathology/neurovirology teaching in the medical school and to undergraduates.