Piero Parchi

Key facts

• Associate professor at the University of Bologna and prion neuropathology lead at IRCCS ISNB.
• Senior author of the second-generation RT-QuIC validation across CJD subtypes (Sci Rep 2017) and the skin punch RT-QuIC study (2020).
• Franceschini, Baiardi, Hughson, McKenzie, Moda, Rossi, Capellari, Green, Giaccone, Caughey, Parchi: Bologna group with RML (Caughey, Hughson), Edinburgh (Green) and Australia (McKenzie).
• Associate Professor of Neurology and Director of the Program on the Neuropathology of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Institute of Neurological Sciences of Bologna (program lead since 2020 per the university CV); trained in Bologna and Verona and worked at the Case Western prion pathology group in Cleveland from 1993 to 1999.
• Since 1993 his work on the molecular basis of phenotypic variability contributed to human prion strain characterization and the current classification of CJD variants; since 2015 he has validated pathology-driven biofluid biomarkers using seed amplification assays for prions and alpha-synuclein.
• A 2003 to 2016 consecutive diagnostic cohort analysed at his laboratory found CSF RT-QuIC sensitivity 82.1 percent and specificity 99.4 percent, with accuracy varying by molecular subtype.
• His 2022 review reports RT-QuIC reaching about 96 percent sensitivity and close to 100 percent specificity in CSF and olfactory mucosa, and argues RT-QuIC detection in peripheral tissues may allow preclinical diagnosis in people at genetic risk, who will likely be the main trial population.
• A skin punch biopsy RT-QuIC study with Capellari and Caughey (71 samples from 35 patients) reported about 89 percent sensitivity, higher in sporadic subtypes with more peripheral PrPSc.
• Editorial board member of Acta Neuropathologica since 2011; funding from Italian ministries and the EU.

Timeline

1. 1993Begins prion research at Case Western Reserve University.
2. 2015Begins validating seed amplification biomarkers.
3. 2020Becomes head of the neuropathology program at the Bologna institute.
4. 2022Review on RT-QuIC for human prion diseases published.
5. 2025Keynote speaker at the Alzheimer Europe conference in Bologna.