Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy affecting cervids, including deer, elk, moose, and reindeer, caused by misfolded prion proteins (PrP^Sc) that induce conformational conversion of normal host prion protein (PrP^C). It is characterized by progressive neurodegeneration, astro- and microgliosis, spongiform change, and accumulation of protease-resistant prion aggregates in central nervous system and lymphoid tissues. CWD is efficiently transmitted horizontally via environmental contamination (saliva, urine, feces, carcasses) and persists in soil, enabling indirect transmission. It exhibits strain variation, host-genotype–dependent susceptibility, long incubation periods, and poses significant challenges for wildlife management, surveillance, and prion ecology research.
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is generally associated with animals. But a new study by researchers from the University of Calgary and international collaborators explored the potential for CWD to spread from deer, elk and ...
Ecology
Jun 11, 2026
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A new AI-based system can generate high-resolution soybean yield maps across Brazil using only limited local data, improving yield estimates for this key agricultural region and potentially providing strategic benefits to ...
Agriculture
Feb 12, 2026
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Recent research led by the University of Alberta challenges the belief that mad cow disease is caused only by misfolded proteins—a discovery that sheds new light on the devastating outbreak in the United Kingdom 40 years ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 1, 2025
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238
Chronic wasting disease, a prion protein disease that is fatal in elk, deer, and other cervids, has spread rapidly across the United States since it was first identified in 1967. CWD has now reached Idaho near the Oregon ...
Ecology
Nov 18, 2025
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62
A new invited commentary by Ke Chen, associate scientist in the Physical Oceanography department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), highlights the significance of a study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Environment
Jul 9, 2025
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23
University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have developed a new diagnostic technique that will allow for faster and more accurate detection of neurodegenerative diseases. The method will likely open a door for earlier ...
Bio & Medicine
May 8, 2023
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