With all the speculation about HRC and Kuru, I thought this was interesting (not to mention scary re the thought of people potentially being able to manufacture prion diseases):

First artificial human prion created

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers have synthesized the first artificial human prion, a dramatic development in efforts to combat a devastating form of brain disease that has so far eluded treatment and a cure. The new findings are published in Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers have synthesized the first artificial human prion, a dramatic development in efforts to combat a devastating form of brain disease that has so far eluded treatment and a cure. The new findings are published in Nature Communications.

Prions are proteins that have folded incorrectly. They can bind to neighboring normal proteins in the brain, triggering a domino effect that causes microscopic holes, turning brains into sponge, resulting in progressive deterioration, dementia, and certain death. There are numerous types of prion diseases in humans; the most common being Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Why and how human prion mis-folding occurs has been a mystery that the Case Western Reserve investigative team may have solved with its new findings…

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180605172511.htm