Deb Cabin

Key facts

• Teams led by Sonia Vallabh (Broad), Holly Kordasiewicz (Ionis) and Deb Cabin (McLaughlin Research Institute) reported ASO efficacy across treatment paradigms; PrP lowering extended survival of prion-infected animals up to threefold.
• Listed at McLaughlin Research Institute, Great Falls, Montana, on prion papers from 2019 to 2023, and at the Weissman Hood Institute, Great Falls, on the May 2026 PLoS Pathogens paper.
• The Great Falls institute, founded in 1954, took the Weissman Hood name in 2024 and joined the Touro University system as an affiliated entity, with chronic wasting disease among its listed research areas.
• Coauthor of the 2019 JCI Insight study in which single bolus ASO doses against PrP extended survival of prion-infected mice by 55 to 98 percent, including when given near symptom onset.
• Coauthor of the 2020 Nucleic Acids Research paper showing that ASO PrP lowering slowed disease across prion strains and stages, that under 25 percent suppression already extended survival, and that symptomatic mice still benefited.
• Coauthor of the 2022 JCI Insight paper that built a cross-species PrP immunoassay and supported CSF PrP as a pharmacodynamic marker for PrP-lowering drugs.
• Last author of the 2023 J Virol trial of anle138b: survival doubled in RML-infected mice, but D178N and E200K knock-in genetic models lacked clear endpoints, a caution on which mouse models suit efficacy studies.
• Coauthor of the 2026 PLoS Pathogens study (published 2026-05-26) that estimated brain PrP half-life at about 5 to 6 days and found CSF PrP tracks brain PrP, with the isotopic labeling mouse work run at the Weissman Hood Institute; her credited role was investigation and review and editing.
• The 2026 paper was funded by NIH R01 NS132022 (Minikel, Broad), the Great Falls COBRE P20 GM152335, Prion Alliance, Ionis and Gate Bio; the 2023 paper by R01 NS125255 (Vallabh, Broad) and P01 NS041997.
• The Great Falls COBRE is a 13.8 million dollar, five-year NIH award for a rural health research center whose projects include chronic wasting disease; Cabin is not named among its project leaders.
• Outside prion work she was last author of a July 2025 Front Neurosci paper on alpha-synuclein in a Menkes disease mouse model, and her earlier record covers alpha-synuclein mice and mouse chromosome 16 genetics.

Timeline

1. 2019JCI Insight paper on ASOs extending survival of prion-infected mice published.
2. 2020Nucleic Acids Research paper on PrP lowering across stages, strains and endpoints published (preprint 2020-03-29).
3. 2022JCI Insight paper on PrP concentration in the CNS and CSF PrP as a marker published.
4. 2023J Virol anle138b trial in genetic prion disease mouse models published, Cabin last author.
5. 2024McLaughlin Research Institute renamed the Weissman Hood Institute at its 70th anniversary.
6. 2024NIH COBRE grant of 13.8 million dollars for the Great Falls institute reported.
7. 2024PrP turnover preprint posted on bioRxiv.
8. 2024Institute reported as joining the Touro University system as an affiliated entity.
9. 2025Front Neurosci paper on alpha-synuclein and a Menkes mouse model published, Cabin last author.
10. 2026PLoS Pathogens paper on PrP turnover and time to effect of prion therapeutics published.