Mad cow disease

The “Mad Cow Epidemic,” starting in 1986, and the first confirmed US death from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in 1988, did much to focus attention on the consequences of misfolded proteins—prions—as a health risk.  Until recently, suspected prions could only be detected from analyzing cerebrospinal fluid or at autopsy of the brain.  Researchers at Case Western Reserve University now have used a highly sensitive assay (real-time quaking-induced conversion) to link normal and pathogenic forms of the CJD prion with a fluorescent marker.  This then, from animal studies, demonstrates a proof-of-concept for a skin diagnostic.  MORE

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