by International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA) Prions. Credit: National Institute of Health Prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”), are lethal neurodegenerative infectious diseases that affect humans and other mammals and for which there is currently no cure. These diseases are caused by the accumulation of prions, which are misfolded versions of...
SCUOLA INTERNAZIONALE SUPERIORE DI STUDI AVANZATI IMAGE: PRIONS CREDIT: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH: HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/NIHGOV/48440889002/IN/PHOTOLIST-NDO19F-2GNYDDQ Prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (‘mad cow disease’), are lethal neurodegenerative infectious diseases that affect humans and other mammals and for which there is currently no cure. These diseases are caused by the accumulation of prions, which are misfolded versions...
Prions get mostly bad press, but they may be the keys to controlling protein synthesis in cells. Image credit: Piqsels, free public domain licence Prions, proteins that can misfold and aggregate, have been implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases. Yet some prions are involved in storing long-term memories. New models by Rice University scientists describe how they...
