Prion Structure and Biology

Dr. Hasier Eraña

(Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC BioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Derio, Spain, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Carlos III National Health Institute, Madrid, Spain; ATLAS Molecular Pharma S. L, Derio, Spain)

Dr. Hasier Eraña earned a Degree in Biotechnology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2010. In 2011, he received a Master’s degree in Microbiology from the same university, working in Dr. Ester Julián’s laboratory to evaluate the use of mycobacteria in bladder cancer treatment. This role provided training in microbiology, cell culture models, immunoassays (ELISA), and flow cytometry.

Following his Master’s, Hasier pursued a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine at the University of the Basque Country (2015), conducted at CIC bioGUNE under Dr. Joaquín Castilla’s supervision and supported by a Basque Government grant (BFI-2010-7). His doctoral research focused on the molecular determinants of interspecies prion transmission, as described in his thesis, “Study of the Molecular Determinants that Modulate the Resistance of Rabbits to Prion Infection Using an In Vitro Propagation Model.” This work advanced his expertise in in vitro prion propagation, ultrasensitive detection by PMCA, recombinant protein production, and biochemical analysis.

During this period, he also enhanced his skills on prion disease research through a short-term stay at Dr. Christina Sigurdson’s laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, where he received training in neuronal cell culture models of prion disease and pathological analyses. Accredited for research with experimental animal models during his PhD, after completing it, Dr. Eraña continued as a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Castilla’s laboratory, focusing on interspecies prion transmission, prion strain characterization, and the development of in vitro prion propagation systems such as PMSA and new transgenic mouse models of prion disease. He currently serves as Project Manager at ATLAS Molecular Pharma S.L., a biotech company dedicated to developing therapies for rare diseases, including prion disorders, combining his work in Atlas with his research activities at the Prion Research Laboratory from CIC bioGUNE led by Dr. Castilla, and teaching at Deusto University.

Prion Diseases in Animal

Dr. Fiona Houston

(University of Edinburgh)

Dr. Fiona Houston is a Group Leader in the Division of Immunology at the Roslin Institute, part of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She has a veterinary degree, a PhD in bovine immunology, and in the past 25 years has led a number of large research projects on pathogenesis and transmission of ruminant prion diseases, mainly in sheep. Amongst the most significant findings were the first demonstration of efficient transmission of prions by blood transfusion, and experimental transmission of BSE to sheep previously considered to be genetically resistant to scrapie. Current research interests include blood-based prion diagnostic tests, application of in vitro prion replication and cell culture models to study genetic resistance and prion strain discrimination, and cross-species comparison of age-related neurodegeneration.

Prion and Prion-like Diseases in Humans

 Dr. Joel Watts

(Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and University of Toronto)

Dr. Watts obtained his PhD in Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology from the University of Toronto and then conducted postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Stanley Prusiner at the University of California San Francisco. He is currently a Principal Investigator at the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, an Associate Professor within the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto, and is the Canada Research Chair in Protein Misfolding Disorders. His research interests include studying the role of self-propagating, prion-like protein aggregates in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease as well as exploiting the unique properties of the bank vole prion protein to develop improved animal and cellular models of the prion disorders.

Prion and Prion-like Diseases in Humans

Dr. Nina Oberbeck

(GATE Bioscience)

Dr. Oberbeck is an accomplished translational biologist and a seasoned drug developer. She is the Senior Director of Translational Sciences at Gate Bioscience, where she leads the Prion program. Dr. Oberbeck earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge, where she investigated DNA repair mechanisms under the mentorship of Dr. K.J. Patel, FRS FMedSci. She also holds an MA (Hons) and MSci in Natural Sciences from Magdalene College, University of Cambridge. She completed her postdoctoral training at Genentech Inc. under Dr. Vishva Dixit, focusing on the signalling pathways that regulate epidermal stem cell differentiation. She has authored several first-author publications in leading scientific journals, including Nature and Molecular Cell. Dr. Oberbeck has presented Gate’s work on prion disease internationally at the Prion 2024 meeting in Nanchang, China, and the 14th Annual National CJD Conference in Melbourne, Australia, in 2023.