Neurology’s Brian Appleby and pathology’s Qingzhong Kong discuss the breakthroughs in prion diseases

Foiling deadly prions

Science MagazineBrian Appleby, professor of neurology and director of the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at the School of Medicine, and Qingzhong Kong, associate professor of pathology at the School of Medicine, discussed the breakthroughs in prion diseases—rare and ultra-rare brain diseases—taking place at Case Western Reserve University. The researchers’ idea is to change the course of fatal prion diseases by removing a protein before it goes bad. “I’ve been in this field for 17 years,” Appleby said. “This is the first time I have a treatment trial to offer a patient. … It’s hard not to seem excited in front of the families.”