What are prions?

In 1982, Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner of the University of California, San Francisco purified an infectious agent uniquely made of protein and named it "prion" ("pree-ahn"), short for "proteinaceous infectious" particle. Dr. Prusiner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1997 for his discovery that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) was caused by prions.

The normal prion protein is found throughout the body and brain. While not essential to life, it does seem to play a role in helping your neurons communicate and transport minerals. Its amino acid chains fold into a mainly helical shape.