Glenn Telling, Ph.D.

Professor

Selected publications

Research statement: The overarching goal of my research program is to determine the molecular events underlying prion propagation, species barriers and strains using molecular biological, biochemical, transgenic and cell biological approaches.  A significant portion of our effort is focused on perhaps the most enigmatic prion disorder, chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer and elk.  We developed prototype transgenic mice with susceptibility to deer and elk CWD prions.  We are using these and other transgenic mouse models to address various unresolved issues, including the mode of transmission of CWD prions, the host range of CWD, and the effects of cervid prion protein gene polymorphisms and prion strains on CWD pathogenesis.  We also continue to devise facile and accelerated experimental systems that accurately reproduce the biological properties of prions during intra and inter-species prion transmission, for example by integrating transgenic mouse resources with in vitro cell-free and cell culture methods for propagating prions.  Other ongoing research projects which build on our previously-published studies include: Exploring the mechanism by which mutations in the PrP coding sequence that cause inherited human prion diseases result in spontaneous and transmissible prion disease; investigating the role of endoproteolytic cleavages of PrPC and PrPSc in prion pathogenesis, prion strain properties, and normal PrP function, and; structure-function analyses of PrP.