Sandra Pritzkow
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology
The University of Texas Health Science Center
United States of America
Biography
Dr. Pritzkow obtained her research doctorate in biochemistry from the Freie University of Berlin in Germany. She developed in vitro replication systems to study the characteristics of prion replication and to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic compounds and prion decontamination procedures. In 2011, she joined the group of Dr Claudio Soto as postdoctoral fellow to study the role of the environment in prion transmission. Currently, Dr Pritzkow is leading a project to obtain regulatory approval to commercialize PMCA for detection of prions in blood of humans infected with variant Creutzfeldt – Jakob disease prions. Furthermore she is participating in the research to expand the principles of PMCA to detect misfolded aggregated proteins implicated in some of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Research Interest
Molecular mechanisms of prion propagation implicated in prion disease and other neurodegenerative disorders
Publications
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Pritzkow S, Wagenführ K, Daus ML, Boerner S, Lemmer K, Thomzig A, Mielke M, Beekes M. Quantitative detection and biological propagation of scrapie seeding activity in vitro facilitate use of prions as model pathogens for disinfection. PLOS ONE. 2011; 6(5):e20384.
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Pritzkow S, Morales R, Moda F, Khan U, Telling GC, Hoover E, Soto C. Grass plants bind, retain, uptake, and transport infectious prions. Cell Reports. 2015; 11(8):1168-75.
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Concha-Marambio L, Pritzkow S, Moda F, Tagliavini F, Ironside JW, Schulz PE, Soto C. Detection of prions in blood from patients with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Science Translational Medicine. 2016; 8(370):370ra183.
