Nicholas J Haley, D.V.M., Ph.D.

My primary research focuses on several aspects of chronic wasting disease (CWD) - a prion disease of deer, elk, and other cervid species. Like other prion diseases, CWD is caused by a misfolded, infectious form of the prion protein. This protein is normally produced by most higher animals, and is encoded by the prion gene, PRNP . When the normal protein is exposed in vivo and in vitro to the abnormally folded protein, PrPres, the normally folded protein is coerced into taking the abnormal formation, which is extremely resistant to cellular and environmental degredation. The accumulation of this misfolded protein in the CNS is what triggers a progressive and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative process that has similarities to other protein misfolding disorders, including Alzheimer's disease.

My initial focus was on developing more sensitive methods of testing, including antemortem testing approaches. Primarily utilizing RT-QuIC, an technique for amplifying the abnormal prion protein at the heart of this disease, my collaborators and I made use of a range of tissues that could be collected both postmortem and antemortem, including brain and lymph nodes, rectal biopsies, blood, urine, feces, and saliva.

Through my investigations, and with a significant amount of help from the deer and elk farming industries in the United States and Canada, we've continued to flesh out the role of genetic resistance in managing CWD in farmed deer and elk populations. Genetic surveillance of different alleles of the PRNP gene in farmed deer across North America has identified patterns of distribution and relative levels of susceptibility to CWD. We are now taking advantage of what we've learned to determine how resistance might affect the progression of the disease, our ability to diagnosis it, and its impact on disease prevalence.

Other projects I am working on include hemoparasite surveillance among native and migratory birds, and Marek's disease surveillance among backyard poultry, with both focusing on the Phoenix area.
Emerging and zoonotic pathogens
Neurodegenerative diseases