Qingzhong Kong

Key facts

• 2024 grants: Kong (NPDPSC) ADAM8-based gene therapy; Schmitz (Goettingen) tear fluid diagnostic; Schmitt-Ulms (Toronto) small brain-penetrant molecule that reduces PrPC and mouse models of spontaneous prion emergence; Castilla (CIC bioGUNE) dominant-negative protein-based gene therapy; Aguzzi and Caredio (Zurich) GPNMB as therapeutic target; organoids from sporadic CJD donors (RML postdoc).
• Tenured associate professor of pathology and neurology and associate director of the NPDPSC, per the university page.
• His lab found that ADAM8 is the main enzyme for the alpha-cleavage of cellular PrP in muscle cells (J Biol Chem 2012) and says it is still trying to identify the key enzyme in brain.
• A 2024 CJD Foundation grant funds testing an AAV vector expressing a PrP-cleaving enzyme in a CJD mouse model.
• Unpublished slides report ADAM8 lowering brain PrP in uninfected mice but not extending survival in infected mice, while an AAV-shRNA arm extended survival by 9.6 percent.
• A 2012 review by the lab notes ADAM8 may play a less prominent role in alpha-cleavage in brain neurons than in muscle.

Timeline

1. 2012ADAM8 alpha-cleavage papers published.
2. 2024CJD Foundation grant record published.
3. 2025Slides on rAAV-ADAM8/shRNA posted.