News tagged with infectious prions


Infectious, test tube-produced prions can jump the 'species barrier'

Biology /

created Sep 04, 2008 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 2

Researchers have shown that they can create entirely new strains of infectious proteins known as prions in the laboratory by simply mixing infectious prions from one species with the normal prion proteins of another species. ...





Search results for infectious prions


Prions show their good side

Biology /

created May 07, 2008 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 1

Prions, the infamous agents behind mad cow disease and its human variation, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, also have a helpful side. According to new findings from Gerald Zamponi and colleagues, normally functioning prions prevent ...


Tracking Prions

Chemistry /

created Jun 17, 2008 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (16) | comments 1

Infectious proteins known as prions have been identified as the cause of “mad cow” disease (BSE). The culprits are “incorrectly folded” proteins that can “infect” healthy proteins. The molecular bases for such prion diseases ...


First direct information about the prion's molecular structure reported

First direct information about the prion's molecular structure reported

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Oct 05, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A collaboration between scientists at Vanderbilt University and the University of California, San Francisco has led to the first direct information about the molecular structure of prions. ...


Prions link cholesterol to neurodegeneration

Biology /

created Feb 12, 2008 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Prion infection of neurons increases the free cholesterol content in cell membranes. A new study published in the online open access journal BMC Biology suggests that disturbances in membrane cholesterol may be the mechan ...


Common soil mineral degrades the nearly indestructible prion

Biology /

created Jan 14, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the rogues' gallery of microscopic infectious agents, the prion is the toughest hombre in town.


Prion discovery gives clue to control of mass gene expression

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 13, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1

The discovery in common brewer's yeast of a new, infectious, misfolded protein -- or prion -- by University of Illinois at Chicago molecular biologists raises new questions about the roles played by these curious molecules, ...


Prion propagates in foreign host

Biology /

created Jul 05, 2007 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Prions -- infectious, oddly-folded proteins that are the main suspects in fatal neurodegenerative diseases such as Cruetzfeldt-Jakob and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow" -- remain mostly a mystery to scientists. ...


A nano-sensor for better detection of Mad Cow Disease agent

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Mar 03, 2008 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0

In an advance in food safety, researchers in New York are reporting development of a nano-sized sensor that detects record low levels of the deadly prion proteins that cause Mad Cow Disease and other so-called prion diseases. ...


Cell study explains why younger people more at risk of vCJD

Medicine & Health / Research

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Specific cells within the immune system could help explain why younger people are more susceptible to variant CJD, scientists believe.


The protein Srebp2 drives cholesterol formation in prion-infected neuronal cells

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Prions are causing fatal and infectious diseases of the nervous system, such as the mad cow disease (BSE), scrapie in sheep or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München and Technische Universität ...



List of search results for infectious prions