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Research
Summary
Prion diseases are neurodegenerative disorders causing rapidly fatal dementia, that are difficult to diagnose and for which there is no effective treatment. They are caused by the accumulation of abnormal or misfolded forms of a normal protein called the prion protein that is widely distributed in the body. Prion diseases are unique in that tissues from affected individuals are infectious i.e. can transmit disease within and across species.
It is not clear if humans and animals spontaneously develop disease or if exposure to prions in food or in the environment is necessary to cause disease. The infectious agent or prion, is very resistant to inactivation by heat and detergents and this poses significant problems for the maintenance of public health.
Our aim is to develop new treatments for prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
Key Research Activities
- Developing novel diagnostic tests and treatments for prion diseases
- Understanding the role of role of brain blood vessels in neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's and prion diseases
- Developing strategies for transporting large therapeutic proteins and genes into the central nervous system to treat many forms of neurological disease
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