Contributed by:
Funds raised by the annual Strides for CJD run/walk have been applied to research grants awarded since 2016. The following is a sampling.
Research Grants Supported
Jason C. Bartz, Ph.D. and Dr. Yuan, Ph.D., 2023
Creighton University
"Detection of residual prions from decontaminated medical and laboratory surfaces"
Dr. Thomas Cunningham, 2023
MRC Prion Unit at UCL, Institute of Prion Diseases
"Generation of Humanised STX6 Overexpression Mice to Study Prion Disease Genetic Risk and as a Model for Therapeutic Intervention"
Victoria Lawson, PhD, 2023
Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne
"Risk of cancer from reduced expression of PrPC-implications for prion disease treatment"
Qiuye Li, Ph.D., 2023
Case Western Reserve University
"High-resolution structure determination of MM1 and MM2 sCJD prions"
Robert C.C. Mercer, Ph.D., 2023
Boston University School of Medicine
"The identification of PrPSc interaction partners and the characterization of their role in prion infection and/or propagation"
Joaquín Castilla, PhD, 2022
Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
"Development and characterization of the fastest animal model able to propagate GSS prions faithfully"
Franc Llorens, PhD and Inga Zerr, MD, 2021
The Network Center for Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Spain and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases
"Implementation of a blood-based biomarker test for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob in clinical practice"
Simon Mead, PhD, 2021
University College London (UCL) Institute of Prion Diseases
"Genome-wide association study (GWAS) of age at clinical onset in inherited prion disease (genetic CJD)"
Brooke Sadler, PhD, and Gabriel Haller, Ph.D., 2020
Washington University School of Medicine
“The Contribution of Rare Variant and Copy-Number Variation to Risk of Sporadic CJD and Pleiotropy with Other Neurodegenerative Diseases”
Sonia Vallabh, Ph.D., 2020
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
“Assessing efficacy of zinc-finger repressors of prion protein as a therapeutic for prion disease”
Anna Poleggi, Ph.D., 2020
Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Dept. of Neuroscience, Rome
“Investigating the influence of CYP4X1 gene on age at onset of CJD as potential preventive therapeutic approach”
Simote Totauhelotu Foliaki, Ph.D., 2019
Cerebral neuronal dysfunction associated with human prion diseases
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH
Dr. Graham S. Jackson, 2019
Development of a quantitative, real-time Protein-Misfolding by Cyclic Amplification (PMCA) reaction
Medical Research Council (MRC) Prion Unit at University College London
Dr. Emmanuelle Vire, 2019
Investigating the relevance of blood DNA methylation signals for disease management in CJD
Medical Research Council (MRC) Prion Unit at University College London
Hermann Clemens Altmeppen, Ph.D., 2018
Investigating the Potential of the Neuroprotective N1 Fragment of the Prion Protein as a New Treatment Against Prion Diseases
Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center – Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
Leonardo Cortez, Ph.D., 2018
Isolation and Strain-Specific Characterization of Pathogenic CJD Prion Particles
Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Rodrigo Morales, Ph.D., 2018
Systematic Evaluation of the Zoonotic Potential of Different CWD Isolates
Mitchell Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Brain Disorders, Department of Neurology, University of Texas-Houston Medical School
Stéphane Haik, M.D., Ph.D., 2017
Worms: A Novel Genetic Model for Therapeutic Research in Prion Disease
Alzheimer’s and Prion Diseases Lab at the Brain & Spine Institute (ICM) of the Salpêtrière Hospital, Sorbonne Université,
Paris, France
Gianluigi Zanusso, M.D., Ph.D., 2017
RT-QuIC Assay on Olfactory Brushings in Asymptomatic Carriers of E200K PRNP Mutation: An Explorative Study for Establishing When a Preventative Therapy Should be Started
University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Wen-Quan Zou, M.D., Ph.D., 2017
Assessing Prion Infectivity in the Skin of Sporadic CJD Patients
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Roberto Chiesa, Ph.D., 2016
A New Anti-Prion Compound that Reduces PrPc levels and Inhibits PrPsc Replication
[Awaiting permission to release from Dr. Chiesa.]
Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri
Milano, Italy
Zuzana Krejciova, Ph.D., 2016
Human Stem Cell Derived Neural Models for sCJD Prion Propagation and Drug Discovery
Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California
San Francisco, California