The Generative Brain

Priogen Corp (University of Minnesota spinout for prion and CWD testing, Minneapolis)

Priogen Corp is a small Minnesota company spun out of the University of Minnesota in 2022 to sell prion seed amplification tests and reagents. Its founders came from the university's Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach (MNPRO), and its co-founder, CEO and chief scientific officer, Peter Larsen, is also an MNPRO co-director. The company was first described as based in Minneapolis and later gives St. Paul as its location. Most of its business is chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing for deer and elk: mail-in tissue and venison tests, a live animal test, soil and water testing, and PrioScout, a herd sentinel device launched in March 2024. It also sells RT-QuIC substrate (MNPROtein) and RT-QuIC and Nano-QuIC kits that it markets for human and animal prion disease and Parkinson disease research, and it lists Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and prion contamination of surgical instruments among target uses. PrioScout is the Priogen product named in the Norwegian Emerging CWD funder record, which reports varied and hard to read results on reindeer samples. No page opened claims USDA approval for any Priogen test. Almost all information here is company statements. Information only, not medical or veterinary advice.

Key facts

  • The company's about page says the founding team set up MNPRO at the University of Minnesota in 2019 after 2018 requests from the state legislature for help with prion diagnostics, that MNPRO raised over USD 16 million in grants, that Priogen spun out in 2022, and that it began CWD diagnostic services in 2023 before adding reagent sales (company statement). The 2019 date differs from the CIDRAP account, which places MNPRO's opening in 2018.
  • On 12 July 2023 Priogen announced a licence with the University of Minnesota adding portable diagnostic platforms and environmental surveillance; the release named PrioSense mail-in tissue kits, planned live animal testing, PrioSwab sentinel surveillance and the MN-QuIC gold nanoparticle test, and gave the company as Minneapolis based. MNPRO's co-directors said 24 hour and 3 hour CWD tests had been licensed through Priogen, with USDA validation of the 24 hour test as the next step at the time.
  • PrioScout was launched on 22 March 2024 (St. Paul dateline) as a mineral supplement loaded device placed where farmed deer and elk feed and drink, with three mail-in swab packs; swabs pick up prions shed in saliva and nasal secretions and are tested with the company's protein assays. The release cites no peer-reviewed data; the CEO says the programme had found CWD positive animals on several ranches that regulatory tests later confirmed (company statement).
  • The store lists CWD venison test kits, MNPROtein RT-QuIC substrate (research use only), RT-QuIC and Nano-QuIC kits, PrioScout CWD sentinels, a "Tricision" live animal CWD test, soil and water testing, prion forensics and contamination investigations, testing of animal by-products, pet food and rendered products, and a core RT-QuIC lab service for state, tribal and federal agencies. No prices and no USDA or accreditation statement appear. Search excerpts of MNPRO's product page say sale of MNPROtein moved from the centre to Priogen.
  • The IP page names five technologies with no patent numbers or licensor: Nano-QuIC, MN-QuIC, PrioVision (seed amplification hardware), Micro-QuIC (a portable microfluidic assay with results in under 4 hours) and surface swabbing, and cites papers from 2022 to 2026, mostly by MNPRO authors. MN-QuIC and Nano-QuIC were published by MNPRO teams in 2022 and 2023, with a blood Nano-QuIC paper on Parkinson disease plasma (4 patients, 4 controls) in 2024.
  • The home page lists Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, ALS, Alzheimer disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy and Parkinson disease among human applications, and names surgical instruments and operating tables before and after autoclaving as environmental targets. These are stated target uses; no human diagnostic service or clinical validation is described.
  • Named officers include Peter Larsen (co-founder, CEO, CSO), Marc Schwabenlander (co-founder, COO), Jason Maidment (CFO) and Kevin Ladwig (board chair). The about page links a financial conflict of interest policy, which was not read.
  • The news page lists a seed round closure on 25 July 2024 and a partnership on 24 September 2025 to widen hunter access to nationwide CWD testing; only the headlines were read and neither the amount nor the partner is known. A third party company profile reports one 2025 NIAID small business award of USD 314,363 and 3 employees (self-reported); this was not confirmed on NIH or SBIR records.
  • In Research Council of Norway project 334585 the "University of Minnesota PrioScout test" gave varied, hard to read results on reindeer samples.

Timeline

  1. 2018Minnesota legislature asks the university for help with prion diagnostics (company account).
  2. 2019MNPRO established, by the company's account; CIDRAP places it in 2018.
  3. 2022Priogen spun out of the University of Minnesota.
  4. 2023Priogen begins CWD diagnostic services.
  5. 2023University of Minnesota licence announced.
  6. 2024PrioScout herd sentinel launched.
  7. 2024Seed round closure announced (headline only).
  8. 2025NIAID small business award reported by a third party profile.
  9. 2025Partnership for nationwide hunter CWD testing announced (headline only).
  10. 2026Norwegian funder record reports unclear PrioScout results on reindeer samples.
Sources for this page