Molecular Biology of Prion Infections

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• Prof. Adriano Aguzzi, University hospital of Zurich
• Wednesday 10 February 2021, 10:30-11:30
• https://zoom.us/j/99760374933?pwd=cXlRUVBabWpCUWZ4NHRGWnRmLzV3dz09.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Anne Jacobs.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are neurodegenerative diseases of humans and many animal species caused by prions. The main constituent of prions is PrPSc, an aggregated moiety of the host-derived membrane glycolipoprotein PrPC. Prions were found to encipher many phenotypic, genetically stable TSE variants. The latter is very surprising, since PrPC is encoded by the host genome and all prion strains share the same amino acid sequence. Here I will review what is known about the infectivity, the neurotoxicity, and the neuroinvasiveness of prions. Also, I will explain why I regard the prion strain question as a fascinating challenge – with implications that go well beyond prion science. Finally, I will report some recent results obtained in my laboratory, which is attempting to address the strain question and some other basic issues of prion biology with a “systems” approach that utilizes organic chemistry, photophysics, proteomics, and mouse transgenesis.

This talk is part of the Biophysical Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
• Biophysical Seminar Series 2016/17
• Biophysical Seminars
• Department of Chemistry
• Featured lists
• School of Physical Sciences
• https://zoom.us/j/99760374933?pwd=cXlRUVBabWpCUWZ4NHRGWnRmLzV3dz09

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.