Speaker: Sina Ghaemmaghami
Assistant Adjunct Professor
Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases & Department of Neurology
University of California, San Francisco
Title: Identification of Novel Inhibitors of Prion Propagation
Local Host: Dr. Mobasheri
Time: Tuesday, March 10th, 1:00-2:00pm
Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics Amphitheater
University of Tehran, Tehran
Prion diseases are a group of fatal neurodegenerative disorders that include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS). They result from the misfolding of the alpha-helix-rich cellular prion protein, PrPC, into a beta-sheet-rich disease-associated infectious isoform, PrPSc. In 1996, the characterization of a novel human prion disease, variant CJD, incurred by the dietary intake of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)prions, led to heightened public interest in developing effective diagnostics and therapeutics against prion diseases. We are utilizing a number of novel strategies to identify small molecules that halt the progression of prion diseases.To facilitate high-throughput screening projects, we have developed a number of cell based assays and are conducting genetic screens to identify novel therapeutic targets. These efforts have yielded a number of potent anti-prion compounds, one of which is being evaluated in clinical trials.
