Advanced Education and Technology Minister Greg Weadick will be lauding the praises of Alberta and its commitment to prion research today at the PRION 2011 research congress in Montreal.
The discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Alberta in 2003 was devastating for the province's cattle producers.
"When BSE hit we had no prion research happening in Alberta at all," Weadick said in a telephone interview from Montreal.
The province responded on many fronts including making a commitment to prion research. Prions are misfolded proteins that are considered to cause BSE and chronic wasting disease in animals and similar conditions in humans.
The Alberta Prion Research Institute, now part of Alberta Innovates - Bio Solutions, was established and $35 million was committed to study prion disease over seven years. New research infrastructure has been created, including the Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Disease at the University of Alberta. More
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