To date, the CJD Foundation has awarded more than $6 million in research grants, breaking new ground in the battle against Prion Disease. In January 2026, the CJD Foundation announced the recipients of ten new research grants and fellowships.
Grant Title: Early vs late intervention: PrP-lowering therapy stage-dependent outcomes in sCJD and GSS mouse models
Location: Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Spain
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: Using a Kuru-Protective PrP Mutation as a Novel Prion Therapy
Location: Edgar Minas Housepian Professor & Chair, Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Boston University/Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: Hypomorphic low PrP expressing mice as models for prion replication and native function
Location: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: Development of RNA Splicing Modulators for the Treatment of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)
Location: University of Chicago
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: Haematopoietic stem cell gene therapy as a novel therapeutic for CNS prion disease
Location: The Roslin Institute & Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: Characterizing Early Synaptic Dysfunction in Human Prion Disease Using a Human iPSC-Derived Neuronal Model
Location: University of California, San Diego
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: New strains, new risks: evaluating the host range and zoonotic potential of CWD prion strains
Location: The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: The structural basis of prion-induced synaptotoxicity
Location: Imperial College London (ICL)
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: DNA Extraction for Global Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Location: MRC Prion Unit and National Prion Clinic, University College London (UCL) Institute of Prion Diseases
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: Investigating the role of BLOC-1 complex in prion disease
Location: Institute for the Science of the Aging Brain (ISAB), St. Gallen, Switzerland
Grant Year: 2026
Grant Title: Refined transgenetic approaches to investigate selective adaptation of human prions during intracranial and peripheral transmissions
Location: Prion Research Center, Colorado State University
Grant Year: 2025
Grant Title: Investigating prion protein seeding activity in non-prion disease dementia
Location: Department of Medicine and Surgery, University Kore of Enna, Italy; Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU); Associate Director at National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center (NPDPSC), Cleveland, OH
Grant Year: 2025
Grant Title: Characterization of synaptic abnormalities in iPSC-derived neurons from E200K carriers
Location: Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Grant Year: 2025
Grant Title: Assessing retinal function as a potential early biomarker for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)
Location: Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, The University of Melbourne
Grant Year: 2025
Grant Title: Engineering human cells to propagate fluorescent prions for live monitoring of prion infection and high-resolution in situ prion structure determination
Location: Imperial College London, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Disease,
Synthetic and Structural Biology Section
Grant Year: 2025
Grant Title: Assessing efficacy of a PrP-lowering Molecular Gate as a therapeutic for prion disease
Location: Gate Bioscience
Grant Year: 2025
Grant Title: Higher-resolution visualization of prion fibrils in neurons and extracellular vesicles using state-of-the-art Cryo-TEM and FIB-SEM imaging
Location: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH
Grant Year: 2025
Grant Title: Engineered biosensors for improved prion detection
Location: Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto
Grant Year: 2025
Grant Title: Multi-center assessment of olfactory swab procedure performed by non-otolaryngologists for improving and simplifying human prion disease diagnosis
Location: Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Grant Year: 2025
Grant Title:
Investigation of Glycoprotein Nonmetastatic Melanoma protein B (GPNMB) as potential therapeutic target in Prion Diseases
Location:
University of Zurich
Grant Year: 2024
Grant Title:
Exploring the efficacy of dominant negative protein-based gene therapy for different prion diseases: in vivo proof-of-concept study
Location:
Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Spain
Grant Year: 2024
Grant Title:
Generating cerebral organoids from donors with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Location:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana
Grant Year: 2024
Grant Title:
Development of ADAM8-based Gene Therapy for CJD
Location:
NPDPSC, Case Western Reserve University
Grant Year: 2024
Grant Title:
Understanding the molecular mechanism of spontaneous prion emergence in knock-in mouse models
Location:
Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto
Grant Year: 2024
Grant Title:
Bridging the pre-clinical gap for a small brain-penetrant molecule that reduces PrPC levels
Location:
Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto
Grant Year: 2024
Grant Title:
Validation of a non-invasive diagnostic test for prion diseases using tear fluid
Location:
Dementia Research Unit, Dept. of Neurology in Göttingen, National Reference Center for TSE and German Center for Neuro-degenerative diseases, Germany
Grant Year: 2024
Grant Title:
Detection of residual prions from decontaminated medical and laboratory surfaces
Location:
School of Medicine, Creighton University, Omaha, NE
Grant Year: 2023
Grant Title:
Investigating prion protein seeding activity in Alzheimer’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Location:
Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
Grant Year: 2023
Grant Title:
Generation of Humanised STX6 Overexpression Mice to Study Prion Disease Genetic Risk and as a Model for Therapeutic Intervention
Location:
MRC Prion Unit at UCL, Institute of Prion Diseases, London
Grant Year: 2023
Grant Title:
Elucidating the factors required for propagating human CJD prions
Location:
MRC Prion at UCL, Institute of Prion Diseases, London
Grant Year: 2023
Grant Title:
Risk of cancer from reduced expression of PrPC-implications for prion disease treatment”
Location:
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Grant Year: 2023
Grant Title:
“High-resolution structure determination of MM1 and MM2 sCJD prions”
Location:
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
Grant Year: 2023
Grant Title:
The identification of PrPSc interaction partners and the characterization of their role in prion infection and/or propagation
Location:
Instructor, Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
Grant Year: 2023
Grant Title:
Contribution of oligomeric prion populations to phenotypic heterogeneity in variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr) versus silent prions
Location:
Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Grant Year: 2023
Grant Title:
Development of a blood and urine prion diagnostic test for human prion diseases using the Real Time QuIC assays
Location:
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari (UniCa), Cagliari, Italy
Grant Year: 2023
Grant Title:
Enzymatic PrP shedding in humans: Biomarker potential and therapeutic target
Location:
Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title:
Blocking the Neurotoxic Activities of Mutant Prion Proteins by a Novel Class of Therapeutic Agents
Location:
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (DPS), University of Perugia-Italy
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title:
Assessing the replication properties of prion protein aggregates found in archived formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded appendix tissue collected from the asymptomatic population by the highly sensitive in vitro prion amplification assay.
Location:
National CJD Research & Surveillance Unit, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title: Development and characterization of the fastest animal model able to propagate GSS prions faithfully
Location:
Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Spain
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title:
Prion protein aggregate size distribution drives clinical phenotype
Location:
Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title:
“Regional tropism of sporadic CJD subtypes in human brain organoids”
Location:
Laboratory of Neurological Infections and Immunity (LNII), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Division of Intramural Research, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title:
Development of a high throughput system for screening anti-prion molecules
Location:
University of Texas, Houston, TX
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title:
Improving the sensitivity of CSF RT-QuIC in humans by examining cases with indeterminate results
Location:
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title:
Examining copy number variants as a possible phenotype modifier in prion disease
Location:
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, Cleveland, OH
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title:
Assessing Prophylactic and Therapeutic Efficacy of a Cellulose Ether Compound TC-5RW on CJD
Location:
Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Grant Year: 2022
Grant Title:
Pharmacological Degraders for the Cellular Prion Protein
Location:
University of Trento, Italy
Grant Year:
2021
Grant Title:
Early diagnosis of CJD from in vivo MRI using the trajectories of prion lesion propagation
Location:
Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy
Grant Year: 2021
Grant Title:
Detection and characterization of rare strains of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease using a suite of novel biological and biochemical tools
Location:
Public Health Agency of Canada and University of Manitoba.
Grant Year: 2021
Grant Title:
Optimization of nanoparticle-mediated brain delivery of a tetracationic porphyrin with potent anti-prion activities
Location:
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
Grant Year: 2021
Grant Title:
Implementation of a blood-based biomarker test for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob in clinical practice”
Location:
The Network Center for Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Spain and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Grant Year:
2021
Grant Title:
Genome-wide association study (GWAS) of age at clinical onset in inherited prion disease (genetic CJD)
Location:
University College London (UCL) Institute of Prion Diseases
Grant Year: 2021
Grant Title:
Strain-specific pathology and spread in prion organotypic slice culture assay infected with different strains of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Location:
Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, University of Alberta, Canada
Grant Year: 2021
Grant Title:
Evaluating passive immunotherapy in prion-infected transgenic mice expressing human PrP
Location:
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Grant Year: 2021
Grant Title:
Evaluation of new anti-prion drugs: from drug design to therapeutic efficacy against human prions in vitro, ex-vivo and in vivo
Location:
Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIH/NIAID
Grant Year: 2020
Grant Title:
The RAP approach for effective prevention and treatment of prion diseases
Location:
Case Western Reserve University
Grant Year:
2020
Grant Title:
“Use of Blood-borne Prion Amplification Assays for the Detection of Human Prion Diseases and Biomarker Assessment”
Location:
Prion Research Center, Colorado State University
Grant Year:
2020
Grant Title:
Exploring the zoonotic potential of porcine-derived materials from animals exposed to infectious prions
Location:
Department of Neurology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Grant Year: 2020
Grant Title:
Investigating the influence of CYP4X1 gene on age at onset of CJD as potential preventive therapeutic approach
Location:
Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Dept. of Neuroscience, Rome
Grant Year: 2020
Grant Title:
The Contribution of Rare Variant and Copy-Number Variation to Risk of Sporadic CJD and Pleiotropy with Other Neurodegenerative Diseases
Location:
Washington University School of Medicine
Grant Year: 2020
Grant Title:
Assessing efficacy of zinc-finger repressors of prion protein as a therapeutic for prion disease
Location:
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Grant Year: 2020
Grant Title:
Generating Recombinant Human Prions in Large Scale for Structural Studies
Location:
The Mitchell Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Brain Disorders; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Grant Year: 2020
Grant Title:
Evaluating prion vaccines in transgenic mouse models of familial prion diseases
Location:
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Grant Year: 2020
Grant Title: Assessing long-term stability of cerebrospinal fluid PrP levels in genetic prion disease mutation carriers
Location: Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; and Translational Neurology Head of the Interdisciplinary Brain Center, Massachusetts General Hospital
Grant Year: 2019
Grant Title:
“Nanoparticle-mediated brain delivery of a tetracationic porphyrin with potent anti-prion activities”
Location:
Laboratory of Prion Neurobiology, Department of Neuroscience, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milano, Italy
Grant Year: 2019
Grant Title:
Cerebral neuronal dysfunction associated with human prion diseases
Location:
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH
Grant Year: 2019
Grant Title: Development of a quantitative, real-time Protein-Misfolding by Cyclic Amplification (PMCA) reaction
Location: Medical Research Council (MRC) Prion Unit at University College London
Grant Year: 2019
Grant Title:
Determining the therapeutic potential of anti-PrP nanobody
Location: Professor, Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI
Grant Year: 2019
Grant Title:
Modeling Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Using Human iPSC-derived Neurons
Location:
Center for Regenerative Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine
Grant Year: 2019
Grant Title:
Investigating the relevance of blood DNA methylation signals for disease management in CJD
Location:
Medical Research Council (MRC) Prion Unit at University College London
Grant Year: 2019
Grant Title:
“Investigating the Potential of the Neuroprotective N1 Fragment of the Prion Protein as a New Treatment Against Prion Diseases”
Location:
Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center – Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
Grant Year:
2018
Grant Title:
“Isolation and Strain-Specific Characterization of Pathogenic CJD Prion Particles”
Location:
Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Grant Year:
2018
Grant Title:
“Highly Synergistic Combination Therapy for Prion Diseases”
Location:
Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine
Grant Year:
2018
Grant Title:
“Investigation of Prion Inactivation by Reactive Oxygen Species in Vivo”
Location:
Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Montana
Grant Year:
2018
Grant Title:
“Innovative Human 3D Neural Network Model for the Efficient Propagation of Human Prions”
Location:
Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy, University of Montpellier, France
Grant Year:
2018
Grant Title:
“Systematic Evaluation of the Zoonotic Potential of Different CWD Isolates”
Location:
Mitchell Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Brain Disorders, Department of Neurology, University of Texas-Houston Medical School
Grant Year:
2018
Grant Title:
Worms: A novel genetic model for therapeutic research in prion disease
Location:
Alzheimer’s and Prion diseases Lab at the Brain & Spine Institute (ICM) of the Salpêtrière Hospital, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Grant Year:
2017
Grant Title:
Design and Development of Anti-Prions as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Prion Disease
Location:
Mitchell Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Brain Disorders, Department of Neurology, University of Texas-Houston Medical School
Grant Year:
2017
Grant Title:
RT-QuIC assay on olfactory brushings in asymptomatic carriers of E200K mutation: An explorative study for establishing when a preventive therapy should be started
Location:
University of Verona, Italy
Grant Year:
2017
Grant Title:
Assessing Prions in Sporadic CJD Patients
Location:
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Grant Year:
2017
Grant Title:
Targeting the endogenous proteolytic processing of PrPc as a therapeutic strategy against prion diseases
Location:
Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center Eppendorf
Grant Year:
2016
Grant Title:
Antisense Oligonucleotides to delay or prevent onset of prion disease in mice
Location:
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health
Grant Year:
2016
Grant Title:
A new anti-prion compound that reduces PrPc levels and inhibits PrPsc replication. [Awaiting permission to release from Dr. Chiesa.]
Location:
Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milano, Italy
Grant Year: 2016
Grant Title:
Human stem cell derived neural models for sCJD prion propagation and drug discovery
Location:
Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California, San Francisco
Grant Year:
2016
Grant Title:
Combination therapies for human prion disease
Location:
Department of Medicine, University of Alberta
Grant Year:
2016
Grant Title:
Pharmacological Chaperones for the Cellular Prion Protein
Location:
Center for Integrative Biology (CIBIO) at the University of Trento, Italy
Grant Year:
2015
Grant Title:
Human Mini-Brains as a New Platform to Identify and Validate Pharmaceutical Compounds for the Treatment of CJD
Location:
CEA/DSV/iMETI/SEPIA (Institute for Emerging Illnesses and Innovative Therapies, Department of Prion and Atypical Infections Research), Fontenay-Aux-Roses, France
Grant Year:
2015
Grant Title:
The Role of Cellular Chaperones and the Unfolded Protein Response in Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Syndrome
Location:
Prion Research Center, Colorado State University
Grant Year:
2015
Grant Title:
Mechanisms of Selective Neuronal Vulnerability in Human Prion Disease
Location:
University of California, San Diego
Grant Year:
2015
Grant Title:
Developing Therapeutics for CJD Using Patient-Specific iPSC-Derived Neurons
Location:
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cleveland, Ohio
Grant Year:
2015
Grant Title:
Development of an Anti-Mortem and Pre-Symptomatic Diagnostic Test for vCJD and Genetic Human Prion Diseases Using Real Time QuIC
Location:
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria, Monserrato (CA) — Italy
Grant Year:
2012
Grant Title:
In Vitro and In Vivo Modeling of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Syndrome (GSS) With Spontaneously Generated Human Recombinant PrPres Harboring the P102L Substitution (P102L-rPrPres)
Location:
American Red Cross, Scientific Affairs, Rockville, Maryland
Grant Year:
2012
Grant Title:
Propagation of CJD Prions in Cultured Cells Expressing Bank Vole PrP
Location:
Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California, San Francisco
Grant Year:
2012
Grant Title:
Probing CJD and GSS by Generating Patient-Derived Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs)
Location:
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio
Grant Year:
2012
Grant Title:
Targeting the Functional Activity of PrPc as a Novel Strategy for Drug Discovery in Prion Diseases
Location:
Harris Laboratory, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
Grant Year:
2011
Grant Title:
Developing a Prion Susceptible Human Neuronal Cell Line Based on Reprogramming Fibroblasts from CJD Affected Patients
Location:
Prion Lab, Proteomic Unit, CIC bioGune, Bizkaia, Spain
Grant Year:
2011
Grant Title:
Yeast Model for Studying Heritable Mammalian Prion Diseases in Mammals
Location:
School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
Grant Year:
2011
Grant Title:
Etiology of Sporadic CJD: Somatic Mutations of the Human Prion Protein Gene in Brain Cells
Location:
The National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Grant Year:
2009
Grant Title:
Adult Neurogenesis in Prion Diseases: A New Lead for Therapeutics?
Location:
Department of Molecular and Cellular Pathologies, Institut de Genetique Humaine, Montpellier, France
Grant Year:
2009
Grant Title:
Pentosan Polysulphate: A Friendly Delivery System for Therapy in Prion Diseases
Location:
Clinical, Diagnosis and Therapy of Neurodegenerative Disorders Unit, Department of Cell Biology and Neurosciences, Instituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy
Grant Year:
2009
Grant Title:
Analyses of the Protein Tau to Help Determine Whether the Newly Discovered Protease-Sensitive Prionopathy is the Sporadic Form of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease (GSS)
Location:
The National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Grant Year:
2009
Grant Title:
“Assessing long-term stability of The CJD Foundations 2009 Research Grant Renewal: Comparative Study of Prions Associated with Iatrogenic and Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: An Update
Location:
Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University; Associate Director of National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Grant Year:
2009
Grant Title:
Searching for Custom Dominant Negative PrPs by In Vitro Prion Replication Studies
Location:
Prion Lab, Proteomic Unit, CIC bioGune, Bizkaia, Spain
Grant Year:
2008
Grant Title:
Studies of Immune Responses to Prion Protein (PrP) During Prion Infection: Role of Regulatory T cells
Location:
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France
Grant Year:
2008
Grant Title:
Comparative Study of Prion Strains Associated with Iatrogenic and Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Location:
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, Recipient of the first CJD Foundation Human Research Grant, Cleveland, Ohio
Grant Year:
2006