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International Research Advisory Council (IRAC)
Some of the world's best minds working in prion-related research have come together to form the Alberta Prion Research Institute's International Research Advisory Council. The advisory body provides strategic direction and an international perspective for the Prion Institute as Alberta looks to establish itself as a global leader in this important area of research.
The members of the International Research Advisory Council are:
- Dr. Linda Detwiler, Chair
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA - Dr. Byron Caughey
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Montana, USA - Dr. Ralph Matthews
Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology,
University of British Columbia, Canada - Dr. Michael Miller
Wildlife Veterinarian, Colorado Division of Wildlife, Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA - Dr. Detlev Riesner
Heinrich-Heine-Universitüt
Düsseldorf, Germany - Dr. John Williams
Parco Tecnologico, Padano, Italy - Dr. Inga Zerr
Georg August University, Göttingen,Germany
Biographies:
Dr. Linda Detwiler, Chair
Dr. Detwiler is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and a consultant for TSE-related animal health issues. She has served as Senior Staff Veterinarian, Emergency Programs Staff, for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), and as Veterinarian in Charge, APHIS's Veterinary Services. Dr. Detwiler received her Bachelor's Degree in Dairy Science from the Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture and her Doctor of Medicine from the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She has been a member of numerous national and international TSE advisory committees and authored numerous publications on TSEs.
Dr. Byron Caughey
Dr. Byron Caughey, is a Senior Investigator and Chief of the TSE/prion Biochemistry Section of the Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health in Hamilton, Montana. Dr. Caughey received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985. In 1986, after post-doctoral studies at Duke University, he began TSE/prion research at Rocky Mountain Laboratories as a post-doc with Bruce Chesebro. He established his own lab at RML in 1989 and has continued to focus on TSE/prion diseases. Dr. Caughey has published extensively in the TSE/prion field and served on multiple editorial boards and scientific review committees. Currently, for instance, he is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of PrioNet Canada.
Dr. Ralph Matthews
Dr. Matthews holds a BA from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and an MA and PhD from the University of Minnesota. He is Professor of Sociology at The University of British Columbia and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies at Griffith University in Australia and Associate Member of: the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability; The Centre for Blood Research: The Fisheries Centre: and, the Peter Wall Institute for Advance Studies, all at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Matthews' primary research interests focus on the relationship between social change and economic development at a community and regional level, and in assessing the ways in which public policy influences that relationship.
Dr. Michael Miller
Dr. Miller is currently the Wildlife Veterinarian at the Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. He has served as a research associate at Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Colorado State University, and as a veterinary consultant for Private Contract Services in Fort Collins Colorado. Dr. Miller is one of several collaborating scientists involved in surveillance-based adaptive management of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in North America, and he has served in an advisory capacity to wildlife biologists designing surveillance programs to detect and contain new foci of CWD. Dr. Miller received his BS in Zoology, his DVM, and his PhD in Fishery and Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. He has been involved in over 80 scientific publications, and has received numerous honours and awards including Colorado Governor's State Top Achievement Recognition (STAR) award and the Douglas E. Gilbert award for Outstanding Achievement in Wildlife Science.
Dr. Detlev Riesner
Dr. Detlev Riesner is a member of the internal scientific committee of the German TSE Research Platform and Chairman emeritus of the Biophysiscs Department at the Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf. He is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Qiagen AG, one of the most successful biotechnology companies in Germany. Between 2001 and 2004, Dr. Riesner acted as chairman of the state initiative Bio-Gen-Tec North-Rhine-Westphalia, the leading biotechnology organization in Germany, and served on the Advisory board "Existenzgründung" of the Minister for Science for the province of North-Rhine Westphalia. In 2005, Detlev Riesner was awarded the 1st class order of the Federal Republic of Germany for his long-time dedication in the scientific field, promotion of junior scientists, and the commercial use of research results.
Dr. John Williams
Dr. John Williams is currently the Research Director at Parco Tecnologico in Padano, Italy. Formerly he was the head of Bovine Genomics at Roslin Institute and leader of the UK National Bovine QTL program including research in traits such as growth, quality, fitness and immune response, and the construction of Radiation Hybrid and Comparative genome maps. He has coordinated five European Community programs in genomics, meat genetics and BSE.
Dr. Inga Zerr
Dr. Inga Zerr is a neurologist at the Neurologic University Hospital, the head of the dementia and prion research group, and a Professor of Neurodegenerative Disorders in the Department of Neurology at Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany. Her scientific research activities include: cerebrospinal fluid research, clinical diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), pre-mortem diagnostic techniques in TSE, epidemiological studies on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, risk factors of CJD, and differential diagnosis of dementia and treatable dementia. Dr. Zerr has participated in and coordinated many national, European Union and World Health Organization research initiatives and risk assessment working groups, and she is widely published in the area of CJD.
