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Florida Faculty and Professional Staff
Charles Weissmann
Chairman
Professor
Department of Infectology
TSRI - 2004
Education
Zürich University, 1950-1961
Degrees of M.D. (1956) and Ph.D. in Organic
Chemistry (1961)
Professor extraordinarius in Molecular Biology, 1967-1970
Professor ordinarius in Molecular Biology, 1970-1999
Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology, University of
Zürich, 1967-1999
Professor emeritus,
University of Zürich, since 1999.
Senior Research Scientist and Visiting Professor,
MRC Prion Unit, St.Mary's Hospital (1999-2001) and
University College, London since 2001
Awarded six honorary degrees
Awards & Activities
Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology
(Washington, 1999)
Betty and David Koetser Award (Zürich, 2001)
Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (London, 2001)
Friedrich-Bauer-Prize for Medical Research
(University of Münich, 2001)
Member of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv
University (since 1997)
Member of the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the
Royal Society (since 1999)
Member of Board of Directors of Speedel (since 2003)
Member of the Scripps Board of Scientific Governors (2004)
Honorary Senior Fellow, Institute of Neurology, University
College London (2004)
Warren Alpert Foundation Prize ( Harvard Medical School,
September 2004)
Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Foreign Member of the Royal Society
Awarded over 20 prizes
Research Focus
Molecular Biology of Prions
The principal component of the transmissible agent of spongiform encephalopathies, the prion, is believed to be a conformational variant of the ubiquitous host protein PrPC, and the different properties of various prion strains are attributed to distinct abnormal conformations of this protein. The precise structure of the prion is not known, nor are the mechanisms of infection, conformational conversion and pathogenesis understood.
Many aspects of prion diseases must be studied in animal models, but because they take many months to develop, the molecular processes underlying the replication and spread of prions are best investigated in cell culture. We have isolated cell lines that are extremely sensitive to prion infection and have established an in vitro prion assay that is more sensitive than the traditional mouse bioassay and ten times faster. Using this assay we are trying to generate prion infectivity in vitro, from non-infectious components. We are studying the mechanism by which prions infect cells, the prerequisites for susceptibility to infection and the mechanism by which infectious particles are released by cells.
Selected References
E. Flechsig, I. Hegyi, M. Enari, P. Schwarz, J. Collinge and C. Weissmann, Transmission of scrapie by steel-surface-bound prions. Molecular Medicine 7, 679-684 (2001).
E.Flechsig, I.Hegyi, R.Leimeroth, A.Zuniga, A.Cozzio, P.Schwarz, T.Rülicke, J.Goetz, A.Aguzzi and C.Weissmann, Expression of truncated PrP targeted to Purkinje cells of PrP knockout mice causes Purkinje cell death and ataxia. EMBO J. 22, 3095-3101 (2003).
P.-C.Kloehn, L.Stoltze, E.Flechsig, M.Enari and C.Weissmann, A quantitative, highly sensitive cell-based infectivity assay for mouse scrapie prions. PNAS, 100:11666-71 (2003).
L.Anderson, D.Rossi, J.Linehan, S.Brandner and C.Weissmann, Transgene-driven expression of the Doppel protein in Purkinje cells causes Purkinje cell degeneration and motor impairment. PNAS, 101, 3644-49 (2004) .
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