Neil A. Mabbott

Key facts

• He joined the Neuropathogenesis Unit at the Institute for Animal Health in 1995 and stayed to 2007, then became principal scientist at Roslin (2007 to 2009), Reader (2009 to 2015) and Professor from 2015.
• He is senior author, with Yixin Zhu and Barry Bradford, of the scoping review Therapeutic strategies in prion disease, published 3 September 2026 in Frontiers in Neuroscience with a Roslin affiliation; it covers PrP-lowering ASOs including ION717 in the PrProfile study, siRNA, base editing, PRN100, historical small molecule failures and glial modulation, and notes no licensed disease-modifying therapy exists.
• The CJD Foundation announced on 28 January 2026 a grant to him for Haematopoietic stem cell gene therapy as a novel therapeutic for CNS prion disease, one of ten awards that round.
• That project will test in mice whether gene therapy modification of microglia to stop interleukin-1 production delays prion disease; the university portal lists it as running March 2026 to February 2028.
• Other running projects shown are a BBSRC project on microglial LGALS3 in CNS neurodegeneration (June 2026 to March 2027) and a Zoetis funded bovine organoids project (July 2024 to June 2027).
• He was principal investigator of BBSRC grant BB/S005471/1 (April 2019 to June 2023, 467,252 GBP) on which mononuclear phagocyte subsets carry or clear prions after oral exposure.
• His recent primary prion papers are on glial and immune responses: CD44 and reactive astrocytes (Sci Rep, June 2024), LPS exposure and peripheral prion susceptibility (Sci Rep, March 2025) and TREM2 in neuronal protection and microglial reactivity (Front Neurosci 2025).
• Earlier glial work includes the 2022 Glia paper showing microglia deficiency accelerates prion disease without raising prion accumulation, and a 2022 paper finding microglial innate immune tolerance does not alter CNS prion disease.
• His output also spans non-prion topics in 2024 to 2026, including a Csf1r leukoencephalopathy model, COVID-19 vaccine meta-analysis, nematode genomics and trypanosome infection.
• He coauthored a 2011 PLoS Pathogens paper on the first gut uptake and replication sites of prions with Stanley Prusiner; Europe PMC shows no coauthorship with Aguzzi, Collinge, Mallucci, Caughey, Priola, Castilla or Green.

Timeline

1. 1995Joins the Neuropathogenesis Unit, Institute for Animal Health, to study the immune system in prion disease.
2. 2011PLoS Pathogens paper on gut prion uptake with Prusiner.
3. 2015Appointed Professor at the Roslin Institute and R(D)SVS.
4. 2019BBSRC grant BB/S005471/1 on oral prion pathogenesis starts, ending June 2023.
5. 2021Becomes Director of Teaching at the Roslin Institute.
6. 2022Glia paper on microglia deficiency accelerating prion disease.
7. 2023Becomes Head of the Immunology Division at the Roslin Institute.
8. 2024CD44 and reactive astrocytes in prion disease paper published in Scientific Reports.
9. 2025TREM2 prion disease paper published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
10. 2025LPS and peripheral prion infection paper published in Scientific Reports.
11. 2026CJD Foundation announces his 2026 research grant among ten new awards.
12. 2026CJD Foundation haematopoietic stem cell gene therapy project starts, running to February 2028.
13. 2026BBSRC project on microglial LGALS3 in CNS neurodegeneration starts, running to March 2027.
14. 2026Therapeutic strategies in prion disease review published in Frontiers in Neuroscience with Zhu and Bradford.