Join us in the Discovery Centre at the Royal Latin for the first science community lecture for 2024/25 in the Lillingstone Lecture Series, where Old Latin, Professor Patrick Lewis of the Royal Veterinary College, entitled:

 'Scraping sheep, mad cows, and zombie deer:prion diseases in the 21st century'

The prion diseases, a unique group of brain disorders caused by the spread of sticky lumps of protein, were first brought into the public eye by the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as “mad cow disease”) epidemic in the 1980s. During the BSE epidemic tens of thousands of cows in the UK developed a fatal brain disorder, which was subsequently transmitted to humans in the form of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease. But prion diseases have been around for many centuries, with sheep, cows, deer, mink and camels all affected. In this lecture, I will talk about the fascinating science behind what causes prion diseases, and provide an overview of where our understanding of these disorders stands in the 21st century.

Entry to these lectures is free to all members of the local community. For further details, or to book a seat, visit the Lillingstone Lectures web page on the Royal Latin website or email Lucy Beckett at lbeckett@royallatin.org