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Scientific American

July 1, 2004

1 min read

Detecting Mad Cow Disease

New tests can rapidly identify the presence of dangerous prions--the agents responsible for the malady--and several compounds offer hope for treatment

By Stanley B. Prusiner

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STANLEY B. PRUSINER is professor of neurology and biochemistry at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has won many awards for his research into prions, most recently the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award and the Paul Ehrlich Award. This is his second article for Scientific American.

More by Stanley B. Prusiner
Scientific American Magazine Vol 291 Issue 1This article was originally published with the title “Detecting Mad Cow Disease” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 291 No. 1 ()
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