2026 Presentations
PROSPECT Study for People at Genetic Risk of Prion Disease
Brian Appleby, MD, Director, National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
Why There Is Reason to be Moore Hopeful About the Field of Prion Disease
Brian Appleby, MD, Director, National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
The 2026 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Report
Ryan Maddox, PhD, Epidemiologist, Prion & Public Health Office, Division of High-Consequence Pathogens & Pathology, National Center for Emerging & Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Atlanta, GA
Drug Development Panel
- Kiyoshi Arita, MSc, Project/Product Manager, Research and Development Division, International Clinical Development Department, Nobelpharma Co., Ltd., Tôkyô, Japan
- Andreja Avbersek, MD, Executive Medical Director, Regeneron, Tarrytown, NY
- Kathy Meyer, MPH, PhD, DABT, Vice President of Nonclinical Development, Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc., Richmond, CA
- Eric Minikel, PhD, Director, Prion Therapeutic Science, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
- Nina Oberbeck, PhD, Vice President of Translational Sciences, Gate Bioscience, Brisbane, CA
- Rob Pulido, PhD, Director, Clinical Development, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Carlsbad, CA
CJD Foundation Family Panel: “My Story, My Mission”
Nikki Bland, Denise Chainey, Jeanne Cole, Shannon Romano, Mike Vitanza
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center Panel
- Brian Appleby, MD, Director
- Eriton Cunha, PhD, Tissue Lab Scientist
- Gabriella DelPrete, Research Assistant II-Tissue Coordinator
- Danielle Jordan, Autopsy Program Manager
- Keisi Kotobelli, MS, GStat, Data Manager II
- Liam Wissinger, Digital Pathology Manager
Genetic Prion Disease Workshop
- Brian Appleby, MD, Director, National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
- Michael D. Geschwind, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
- Eric Minikel, PhD, Director, Prion Therapeutic Science, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
- Krista Savage, MS, CGC, Genetic Counselor, Grey Genetics, Orting, WA
- Amanda Kalinsky, RN, BSN, Family Member
Prion Disease Basics – Clinical
Brian Appleby, MD, Director, National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
Prion Disease Basics – Research
Joel Watts, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Refined transgenetic approaches to investigate selective adaptation of human prions during intracranial and peripheral transmissions
Alyssa Block, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Prion Research Center, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Characterization of synaptic abnormalities in iPSC-derived neurons from E200K carriers
Jose Andres Alepuz Guillen, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA
Engineering human cells to propagate fluorescent prions for live monitoring of prion infection and high-resolution in situ prion structure determination
Ellie Hanzi, PhD Student, Imperial College London, London, England
Engineered biosensors for improved prion detection
Joel Watts, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Higher-resolution visualization of prion fibrils in neurons and extracellular vesicles using state-of-the-art Cryo-TEM and FIB-SEM imaging
Jakub Soukup, PhD, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
Assessing retinal function as a potential early biomarker for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)
Pei Ying Lee, BOptom, PhD, Research Fellow, Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Melbourne School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Assessing efficacy of a PrP-lowering Molecular Gate as a therapeutic for prion disease
Nina Oberbeck, PhD, Vice President of Translational Sciences, Gate Bioscience, Brisbane, CA
Multi-center assessment of olfactory swab procedure performed by non-otolaryngologists for improving and simplifying human prion disease diagnosis
Gianluigi Zanusso, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Veneto, Italy
Investigating prion protein seeding activity in non-prion disease dementia
Ignazio Cali, PhD*, Adjunct Assistant Professor and Associate Director, National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH and Associate Professor, Department of Medicine and Surgery, Kore University of Enna, Enna, Sicily, Italy
Teleneurology Assestment Program for CJD (TAPCJD)
Brian Appleby, MD, Director, National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
CJD Foundation Report: Programs, Finance, and Strides for CJD
- Stuart Yaffa, Chairman, CJD Foundation Board of Directors
- Jacob Schwister, Treasurer, CJD Foundation Board of Directors
- Lori Nusbaum, Program Director, CJD Foundation, Akron, OH
CJD Foundation Grants Program
- Debbie Yobs, President and Executive Director, CJD Foundation
- Joel Watts, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada