This animation gives a very simplified view of how prions cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases of the brain in man and animals next step 1. The prion protein, PrP, is a normal constituent of many cell types in the body, notably nerve cells (neurons) in the brain. The name prion (pronounced pree-on) is derived from”proteinaceous infectious…

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Sir Howard Walter Florey was born on September 24, 1898, at Adelaide, South Australia, the son of Joseph and Bertha Mary Florey. His early education was at St. Peter’s Collegiate School, Adelaide, following which he went on to Adelaide University where he graduated M.B., B.S. in 1921. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Magdalen…

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Presentation Speech by Professor the Count K.A.H. Mörner, Rector of the , on December 10, 1908 Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen. Some time ago in this place a short description was given of the development of medicine. In it it was emphasized that medical science today has set itself the task of…

Presentation Speech by Professor Sven Gard, member of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine of the Your Majesties, Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen. The 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is shared by Professors Jacob, Lwoff and Monod for «discoveries concerning the genetic regulation of enzyme and virus synthesis». This particular sphere of…

5. In neurons infected with the prion protein, more and more PrPSc will gradually be produced forming larger fibrillar aggregates. When a critical level of PrPSc has accumulated, the neurons die, resulting in large vacuoles. The affected brain regions become sponge-like in appearance, hence the name spongiform encephalopathies, to describe all prion diseases.  

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