The Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach (MNPRO) received $483,497 in federal funding to continue research on chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer.
The grant came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, according to a press release in November.
CWD is a neurodegenerative disease affecting cervids such as deer, elk and moose across North America, said Stuart Lichtenberg, a research scientist with MNPRO.
“It is incurable, untreatable and will always ultimately end up in the death of the animal,” Lichtenberg said.
Lichtenberg said CWD attacks prions, or misfolded protein cells, that cause fatal brain diseases. Prions do not break down in the environment outside the body, meaning live animals can contract CWD without exposure to the infected animal.
“The thing about these prions is they are extraordinarily resilient,” Lichtenberg said. “We’re talking persistence in the environment and retained infectivity for years to decades. So this creates a big issue because it means that even though an animal may have died years ago it could still infect other animals that are exposed to those prions that are in the environment.”
Tiffany Wolf, the co-director of MNPRO, said the center was created after the Minnesota Legislature contacted the University with concerns over the disease.
“Minnesota, I think, is a state that recognizes the value of our natural resources and the important connections we as citizens have with our natural resources, and deer and deer hunting are really an important part of that,” Wolf said. “It’s been exciting that our state is supporting our natural resources and protecting and conserving our natural resources.”
Lichtenberg said researchers can struggle to get funding, and MNPRO is unique in receiving state support.
“It’s rare that funding comes from a state-level source,” Litchenberg said. “Almost all of the research funding we get here at the University comes from federal sources. We’re very fortunate in Minnesota that we have a state legislature that’s willing to invest in research and issues like this because it’s not terribly common.”
Wolf said MNPRO has three main focuses — research, education and outreach.
“We think it’s critically important for us to connect the latest and greatest science with the public,” Wolf said. “We want to do it in a way that is easy to understand for people who may not normally think about prion diseases, so a lot of our efforts engage with the public.”
The center works closely with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Wolf said.
“I’ve been working with tribal partners for a long time now, a lot of our work, both in research and outreach, is driven by the needs of our native communities,” Wolf said. “We have a lot of conversations with the tribal natural resource agencies that are thinking about chronic wasting disease.”
Outreach is a big part of the program, Wolf said. At the MN State Fair, MNPRO talked with 12,000 people, informing them of the disease. But Wolf said it is not only about informing the public.
“Oftentimes people think about outreach as a unidirectional process where you’re just sharing information, but you’re not really listening,” Wolf said. “If you take that approach, you’re not really taking in what communities need, I like this idea of a two-way process so that when we create that information, we can do so in a way that meets their needs.”
Researchers are hoping to make progress and continue to explore the disease, Lichtenberg said. He is teaching a class in the Veterinary School focused on prions in spring 2025, furthering education on this subject.
“The tricky thing with the disease is, they’re going to defy your expectations at every turn, and they have for years and years and years,” Litchenberg said. “This stuff has confused scientists for decades now, we’re still being surprised by things with the disease.”
