A fast protein liquid chromatography system for purifying prion proteins

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The presence of misfolded, aggregated proteins in the brain is a hallmark of many human neurodegenerative diseases. Of particular interest are the prion diseases, which include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow disease”) in cattle. In these diseases, misshapen proteins called prions accumulate in the brain, eventually resulting in the death of brain cells. Prions are notorious for being infectious proteins. Generally, prions from one species do not efficiently infect other species, a process referred to as the “species barrier”. Sometimes, the species barrier is imperfect, as in the case of the transmission of BSE prions to humans during the mad cow disease epidemic in the United Kingdom. Some animal species, such as dogs and horses, are seemingly resistant to prion disease. At the other end of the spectrum, bank voles (