The Generative Brain

NIAID Rocky Mountain Laboratories (Laboratory of Neurological Infections and Immunity)

NIAID Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, where the RT-QuIC test was built. Its TSE/Prion Biochemistry Section was led by Byron Caughey until his death in February 2026; a second section studies prion molecular biology. Leadership after Caughey and the continuation of outside RT-QuIC training are unconfirmed.

Key facts

  • Abstract book listing groups at UCL MRC Prion Unit, NIAID RML, Case Western/NPDPSC, CDC, UCSF; includes tear fluid RT-QuIC for prion disease diagnosis.
  • The NIAID researcher page lists Caughey as Chief of the TSE/Prion Biochemistry Section in Hamilton and says his research has been in the Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, now the Laboratory of Neurological Infections and Immunity, since 1986.
  • The section developed ultrasensitive RT-QuIC seed amplification assays used for prion diseases and synucleinopathies on clinically accessible specimens such as CSF and nasal brushings, and used new near-atomic prion structures to look for ways to block prion growth.
  • A local history places the lab in a line of prion research at RML that began with Bruce Chesebro and names Suzette Priola as Chief of the TSE/Prion Molecular Biology Section; RT-QuIC was added to the CDC diagnostic criteria in 2018.
  • Scientists from around the world trained on RT-QuIC at the section; a 2024 protocols.io bench protocol for chronic wasting disease RT-QuIC in white-tailed deer rectal mucosa was written by USDA-ARS, USGS, USDA-APHIS and University of Wisconsin authors, who thank the section's Orru, Hughson, do Carmo and Caughey for critiques and refinements (the Caughey lab is not an author).
  • University of Minnesota veterinary researchers (now the atlas entity org-umn-mnpro) say collaboration with RML gave them access to RT-QuIC, which is not validated for official regulatory testing in deer or elk.
  • Caughey died on 15 February 2026; section leadership since then is not stated in the sources read.

Timeline

  1. 1986Caughey joins the Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases.
  2. 2006Caughey becomes Chief of the TSE/Prion Biochemistry Section.
  3. 2018RT-QuIC added to the CDC diagnostic criteria.
  4. 2026Section chief Byron Caughey dies.
Sources for this page