The simulation visualizes how a single seed of misfolded PrP-Sc protein contacts and converts nearby normal PrP-C molecules, generating new templates that spread the misfolded conformation through the tissue in an accelerating chain reaction.
Adjust the seed concentration and conversion efficiency sliders to see how quickly the misfolding front spreads, and rotate the 3D view to watch individual protein contacts trigger conformational conversion.
Sliders for seed concentration and conversion efficiency, with rotatable 3D view of the misfolding cascade
Stanley Prusiner won the 1997 Nobel Prize for proposing that prions could transmit disease using only protein, with no genetic material involved at all, an idea that initially defied one of biology's most basic assumptions.
The simulation visualizes how a single seed of misfolded PrP-Sc protein contacts and converts nearby normal PrP-C molecules, generating new templates that spread the misfolded conformation through the tissue in an accelerating chain reaction.
The simulation visualizes how a single seed of misfolded PrP-Sc protein contacts and converts nearby normal PrP-C molecules, generating new templates that spread the misfolded conformation through the tissue in an accelerating chain reaction.
Adjust the seed concentration and conversion efficiency sliders to see how quickly the misfolding front spreads, and rotate the 3D view to watch individual protein contacts trigger conformational conversion.
Stanley Prusiner won the 1997 Nobel Prize for proposing that prions could transmit disease using only protein, with no genetic material involved at all, an idea that initially defied one of biology's most basic assumptions.