Inga Zerr

Key facts

• Professor of neurodegenerative diseases since 2005, head of the dementia and prion research group since 2001 and of the Clinical Dementia Center in the Goettingen neurology department since 2012.
• The Robert Koch Institute designated her group as National Reference Center for TSE in 2006; its remit is surveillance, research and advice to physicians on diagnosis, treatment and hygiene.
• In Germany, CSF RT-QuIC for CJD diagnosis is offered only by this center; the university press office puts new cases at roughly 150 to 180 a year.
• Senior author of the 2023 NEJM study showing prion seeding activity in tear fluid: 16 of 19 patients with CJD or genetic prion disease positive, 94 of 94 other neurological patients negative.
• A CJD Foundation grant to Matthias Schmitz in her group reports tear fluid RT-QuIC with a full-length human E200K substrate: 84 percent sensitivity in sporadic CJD, 70 percent in genetic prion disease and 99.5 percent specificity in 184 controls.
• The same report states tear seeding activity is stable for five days at room temperature and aims to follow disease over time and look for early signals in asymptomatic PRNP mutation carriers.
• The January 2026 paper from the group reports the E200K substrate raising CSF sensitivity in sporadic CJD from 71 to 92 percent and in fatal familial insomnia from 19 to 75 percent (figures from the 2025 abstract in the grant report; the published paper was not read in full).
• First author, with Hermann, Mok and Mead, of the February 2026 Lancet Neurology review, which says blood-based diagnostic biomarkers are close to clinical application and that biomarker-based staging should be tested in future studies.
• Co-author of the August 2026 Brain Communications paper on PrP profiles in blood and CSF in pre-symptomatic and symptomatic prion disease, relevant to measuring PrP-lowering drugs, and of an October 2026 UCH-L1 biomarker paper.
• Co-author of a Parkinson disease tear fluid alpha-synuclein seeding paper (February 2026), extending the tear approach beyond prions, and of UK recommendations on palliative care in CJD (July 2026).
• Her group is an author on the international CJD biomarker guideline and on RT-QuIC concordance work across European surveillance laboratories.

Timeline

1. 2001Takes over the dementia and prion research group in Goettingen.
2. 2005Appointed professor of neurodegenerative diseases.
3. 2006Group designated National Reference Center for TSE.
4. 2012Heads the Clinical Dementia Center.
5. 2023NEJM paper on prion seeding in tear fluid.
6. 2024First year of the CJD Foundation tear fluid validation grant begins (to December 2024).
7. 2026Full-length E200K RT-QuIC substrate paper published.
8. 2026Lancet Neurology biomarker review.
9. 2026Brain Communications paper on PrP profiles in blood and CSF.
10. 2026Brain Communications paper on UCH-L1 in CSF and blood.