September Sessions

The Bizarre Story of Prion Disease

What You Need to Know
 

 How SoCo or Arts Intensive fits into your summer 

 Fast Facts about Deadlines, Commitment, Schedule, etc

 How much does SoCo or Arts Intensive cost?

 Storage and Spring Considerations

 On Campus in September 

 Apply in the VCA

MI 19SC

Prions are the world’s deadliest infectious agents with a mortality of 100%. They are caused by rogue proteins produced by the victim’s own body. These proteins begin to crystallize destroying brain tissue. Prions may be acquired by exposure to someone else with the disease. One tragic example was the early use of human derived growth hormone to treat short stature. Another bizarre example is transmission due to cannibalism in the case of Kuru on the island country of Papua New Guinea. Prions can also be acquired by exposure to infected animals as in the case of Mad Cow Disease. They can be genetically inherited as the case of Fatal Familial Insomnia. Or they can arise spontaneously as in the case of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease. Despite the bizarre nature of these proteins, they can provide key insights into many other neurological and nonneurological diseases as diverse as Alzheimer’s disease and sickle cell anemia. Two Nobel Prizes have been awarded to researchers for their work on prions. This class will take a deep dive into the history, epidemiology, clinical features, pathology, patients, politics, prevention, and researchers of prion disease. Professor Siegel will also share some of his personal stories related to prions both here at Stanford and in distant corners of the globe.

Potential Field Trips and Guest Speakers

  • California Academy of Science
  • Genentech
  • Stanley Prusiner
  • Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel
  • William Durham

Potential Student Projects

In-class presentations, creation of 3D models of prions, a brief research proposal related to prions or related diseases, an educational video, interviews with individuals with some connection to prions.

Meet the Instructor

Professor Bob Siegel

I am a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology with secondary appointments in the Center for African Studies, the Master of Liberal Arts Program, the Woods Institute for the Environment, and The Program in Human Biology.  My courses cover a wide range of topics including virology and infectious disease, genetics and molecular biology, global health and development, photography, ecology, Darwin and evolution, bird taxonomy, and Stanford itself.  For more than 20 years, I served as Course Director of the Infectious Disease component of the required preclinical curriculum at the Stanford University School of Medicine.  I have written book chapters on viral classification, vaccines to prevent viral cancers, and prions. During the coronavirus pandemic, I gave numerous lectures and interviews and my writing appeared in Medium, Fox News, and elsewhere.

I have taught the following Sophomore College courses: The Stanford Safari (2009 and 2013), Smallpox: Lethal Legacy, Forbidding Future (2010), The Coming Influenza Pandemic (2011), Measles, Sneezes, and Things That Go Mumps in the Night (2012), and Viruses in the News (2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021) and Desert Biogeography of Joshua Tree National Park (2022).  

I have led eight BOSP overseas seminars: to Tanzania (twice), England, Madagascar (twice), the Pantanal, Tasmania, and Namibia.  I have also served as Faculty-in-Residence at the Stanford Overseas campuses in Oxford, Santiago, and Cape Town.  I have led multiple Stanford Travel Study trips to Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, and numerous trips to the Galápagos. 

I have won a number of teaching awards including the Walter Gores Award, the Henry Kaiser Award, the ASSU Teaching Award, the Northern California Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award and most recently a Certificate of Recognition by the California Legislature. My courses have been profiled in the book InGenius and in the Huffington Post. 

I have served in an advisory capacity for numerous international NGOs, organizations, and projects including: The Discovery Channel, Wonderfest, FACE AIDS, Support for International Change, Dr Ocean Medicine Foundation, Free the Children, Sage Bionet, and Teach AIDS.  I am also a docent at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve and formerly at Año Nuevo State Park. I am a published photographer and poet.  I am also an avid Dish walker and dromomaniac.  (I have completed photographic explorations of seven continents and have taught field seminars on six.)

My photographic work has been published in scholarly and popular books and journal articles including National Geographic, as well as numerous online sites. In 2025, I collaborated on a pilot project in Madagascar to get high school students there to help characterize the taxonomically unique, but highly imperiled biota of that country.

I got three of my degrees at Stanford – a BA in Psychology, an MA in Education, and my MD. I look forward to telling you about some of my adventures while I was a student.