A new chapter for CWRU’s Prion Center

With a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 28, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine’s National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center (NPDPSC) celebrated its new space on the fourth floor of the Robbins Building, marking the next chapter for one of the nation’s most unique prion disease programs.

Previously housed in the Institute of Pathology, the new location provides updated and expanded facilities for the NPDPSC, which aims to protect public health and improve the lives of people affected by prion disease through definitive diagnosis, national surveillance, scientific discovery, clinical research and compassionate support for patients and families.

Founded in 1997, the NPDPSC was created in response to the discovery that bovine spongiform encephalopathy—commonly called “mad cow disease”—could transmit to humans, as well as growing reports of fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease being medically transmitted through the use of growth hormones derived from donated bodies. Today, it’s the only center of its kind in the U.S., as it's the only lab approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct neuropathologic surveillance.

“There are other surveillance centers around the world, but we differ from them in terms of size of our catchment area, number of expected cases, extremely large biorepository, integration of clinical diagnostic testing, as well as collaboration on local and national Alzheimer's disease and related dementia projects,” shared NPDPSC Director Brian Appleby, MD. “The NPDPSC uniquely touches all aspects of the disease.”

As it approaches its 30th anniversary, the NPDPSC continues to expand its impact through new studies, industry partnerships and broader neurodegenerative disease research. Its new home in the Robbins Building will give the center the modern space it needs to persist in leading this critical work.

“For nearly three decades, people have turned to this program for answers that few other places can provide,” said Dean Stanton Gerson, MD, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Researchers have relied on its expertise, its tissue and its data, and our public health system has relied on the people here to recognize and understand prion disease. These new facilities give that work a better place to continue.”