Professor Neil Cashman Lecture

Neurodegenerative Diseases:
The Distorted Origami of Protein Misfolding

Dr. Cashman is a neurologist-neuroscientist working in neurodegeneration and neuroimmunology. His special areas of work are the amyloid encephalopathies, such as the prion illnesses, Alzheimer’s disease, and motor neuron diseases, particularly amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). He holds the Canada Research Chair in Neurodegeneration and Protein Misfolding Diseases. He is Scientific Director to PrioNet Canada, a Network of Centres of Excellence focused on basic and applied research related to prion diseases. Dr. Cashman is the author of over 300 publications, and provides expertise and guidance to numerous scientific, medical, and governmental committees related to his research interests. Special honors recently received include the Jonas Salk Prize in 2000 for “outstanding contributions to basic biomedical research,” his election to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2008, and the Genome BC Scientific Excellence Award in 2012.