The Tom Stivison Memorial Research Grant

Contributed by: Sandra (Cookie) Stivison

Established in 2015

Research Grants Supported

Alyssa Block, PhD

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

Matthias Schmitz, PhD

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

Surabhi Mehra, PhD, MSc

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

Christina Sigurdson, DVM, PhD

Grant Title:
Mechanisms of Selective Neuronal Vulnerability in Human Prion Disease

Location:
University of California, San Diego

Grant Year:
2015

Valerie Sim, MD, FRCPC

Grant Title:
Combination therapies for human prion disease

Location:
Department of Medicine, University of Alberta

Grant Year:
2016

Wen-Quan Zou, MD, PhD

Grant Title:
Assessing Prions in Sporadic CJD Patients

Location:
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

Grant Year:
2017

Stéphane Haik, MD, PhD

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

Rodrigo Morales, PhD

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

Allison Kraus, PhD

Grant Title:
“Investigation of Prion Inactivation by Reactive Oxygen Species in Vivo”

Location:
Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Montana

Grant Year:
2018

Jiyan Ma, PhD

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

Dr. Graham S. Jackson

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

Dr. Thomas Cunningham and Elizabeth Hill

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

Jason C. Bartz, PhD and Qi Yuan, PhD

Grant Title:
Detection of residual prions from decontaminated medical and laboratory surfaces

Location:
School of Medicine, Creighton University, Omaha, NE

Grant Year: 2023

Jaime Noguez

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

Cathryn Haigh, PhD

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

Brooke Sadler, PhD and Gabriel Haller, PhD

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

Qingzhong Kong, PhD

Grant Title:
The RAP approach for effective prevention and treatment of prion diseases

Location:
Case Western Reserve University

Grant Year:
2020