Scientific Report 2008

Scripps Florida

Infectology

Chairman's Overview

Staff

Charles Weissmann, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chairman

Corinne Lasmézas, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Professor

Donny Strosberg, Ph.D.
Professor

Tim Tellinghuisen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Joaquin Castilla, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Senior Staff Scientist

Sukhvir Mahal, Ph.D.

Senior Research Associates

Carlos Coito, Ph.D.

Chris Baker, Ph.D.

Research Associates

Ivan Angulo-Herrera, Ph.D.

Shawn Browning, Ph.D.

Natalia Fernández-Borges, Ph.D.

Maria Herva-Moyana, Ph.D.

Paula Saá Prieto, Ph.D.

Jiali Li, Ph.D.

Anja Oelschlegel, Ph.D.

Yervand Karapetyan, M.D.

Minghai Zhou, Ph.D.

Distinguishing between prion strains 22L and Me7 with the mouse bioassay takes 6 months. The cerebellar Purkinje cell layer (immunostained for calbindin) remains intact in Me7-infected, terminally sick mice (top, arrow) but is obliterated by infection with 22L (bottom, arrow). With the cell panel assay (insets), the strains can be distinguished from each other in 2 weeks. 22L prions efficiently infect the 4 cell lines constituting the panel, whereas Me7 infects only LD9 and CAD cells. Stained sections and micrographs prepared by Sukhvir Mahal, Ph.D., staff scientist, and Alexsandra Sherman, research assistant; photomontage created by Christopher A. Baker, Ph.D., research associate. Work done in the laboratory of Charles Weissmann, Ph.D.