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- Supporting Families Affected by Prion Disease
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal prion disease that affects deer and is spreading rapidly, raising concern about whether it could one day pose a risk to people. So far, CWD has not been shown to infect humans, but the disease is caused by abnormal proteins called prions, and we now know that there are many different types (or strains) of these prions, some of which may adapt more easily to new animal species. In this project, we will study different CWD strains and evaluate whether they can spread from deer to animals such as pigs, sheep, or cattle. We will also test how CWD prions interact with the human prion protein after adaptation in animals other than cervids. Because not all strains have been studied and new ones continue to emerge, this research aims to identify which forms of CWD could represent future risks, helping to better protect people, especially those who handle or consume animal meat.
Dr. Paulina Soto is a biochemist and postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston), where she works in the laboratory of Dr. Rodrigo Morales. She earned her PhD in Science from Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins (Chile) and focuses her research on prion diseases, particularly Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). One of her major scientific contributions has been improving sensitive prion detection techniques, enabling the identification of prions in non-traditional biological and environmental samples.
Her work highlights environmental contamination as a key driver of prion transmission beyond infected animals. She investigates non-traditional transmission pathways, identifying environmental surfaces and invertebrate species as potential vectors that contribute to prion persistence in ecosystems and may facilitate exposure to additional animal species. Her current research integrates biochemical and in vivo approaches to study prion host range and strain diversity, with the goal of understanding how emerging CWD strains adapt to new species and assessing their potential implications for animal and human health. Dr. Soto is an active member of the CWD Research Consortium.