PrioNet Canada: a network of centres of excellence for research on prion diseases--ongoing and future research directions.

It is PrioNet's vision to build a network that shapes and sustains prion research in Canada, translating basic science into accessible socioeconomic benefits for global betterment. PrioNet's research is developing surveillance measures, diagnostic tools, vaccines, and potential therapies and determining the various impacts of prion diseases on people. PrioNet seeks to integrate scientifically informed risk management strategies and to use this knowledge to address ongoing problems posed by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the gathering crisis of chronic wasting disease (CWD), emerging issues of human prion disease, and basic scientific understanding of the nature of prions. PrioNet is strategically responding to prion threats by focusing its network of highly accomplished researchers and trainees to implement integrated risk management strategies that could not be supported by other mechanisms.