Neil Cashman, Professor in the Division of Neurology and a Canada Research Chair in Neurodegeneration and Protein Misfolding Diseases, received the 2012 Genome BC Award for Scientific Excellence from Life Sciences British Columbia on April 19 in Vancouver.
Dr. Cashman, a Senior Investigator at the Brain Research Centre and Scientific Director of PrioNet Canada, was recognized for his instrumental role in translating research discoveries into therapeutics and diagnostics for neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and the discovery of protective vaccines for infectious prion diseases, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease).
Dr. Cashman’s career includes authoring 300 publications, filing 30 patents, receiving the Jonas Salk Prize, and election into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He has also founded two biotech companies, Caprion Pharmaceuticals and Amorfix Life Sciences, Ltd. and co-founded the Canadian Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD, a human prion disease) Surveillance System, a network that monitors and tracks the diagnoses of CJD across Canada.
PrioNet Canada is a network of multidisciplinary researchers nationally and internationally to investigate the causes and prevention of prion diseases. PrioNet Canada is hosted by. Organized by Dr. Cashman, it is hosted by the UBC Faculty of Medicine and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.