Detecting Prions?

hivesaeed4

Suppose you were asked to make a sort of test which would be able to detect any prions in a given (human) cell. You do not know the structure of a prion, its function etc. You don't even know if a prion exists in the cell you've been given. How would you do it?

Borek

I would start browsing literature.

hivesaeed4

I tried. Extensively. But considering that I'm a sophomore who's just started reading research papers (given as supplementary readings in the lectures) I have'nt found anything which I can understand. So could you or somebody else at least direct to me a good resource or starting point.

mazinse

Ok mr. saeed lets do this one step at a time

you google "prion detection "and find me 3 ways to detect it, look for

1. the old histological way tell me what you found
2. the genetic assay for those with hereditary prion, the CJD one
3. and one new one thats on top of the google search.
4. there also seem to be a urine detection one

And i think you should be done. Oh by the way dont read about detailed research papers, just give a quick summary of each. I'll fill in any of the weak areas you have.