Ellie's talk that kept me from getting any work done
Reflections from the CJD Foundation Family Conference 2026
We had the privilege of attending the CJD Foundation Family Conference in Chicago (July 10-12), where our PhD student, Ellie Hanzi, presented her work on engineering human cells to propagate fluorescent prions for live monitoring of prion infection and high-resolution in situ prion structure determination.
Seeing the Unseen and beyond the stage
Ellie's talk, which opened with the hook phrase Seeing the Unseen, was exceptionally well received. The following morning, I arrived in the conference hall before breakfast, hoping to catch up on some work while making use of the conference Wi-Fi (the hotel unfortunately did not provide complimentary internet access in guest rooms). The plan quickly fell apart… Almost everyone walking past stopped to tell me how much they had enjoyed Ellie's presentation or to continue conversations sparked by her talk. I made no progress on my work, but it was so rewarding, I couldn’t have been happier.
Beyond the scientific programme, some of the most meaningful moments came during the Moving Roundtables discussions, where families affected by prion disease shared their experiences, hopes and questions with researchers. These conversations are a powerful reminder of why we do what we do and why close engagement between scientists and families is so important. I’ve never experienced anything like this in any other field.
Moving Roundtables session with Prof. Bartz and Dr Guillen
We are grateful to Debbie Yobs, President of the CJD Foundation, for bringing together such a remarkable community, and to everyone who organised the conference.
We would also like to acknowledge the generous support for our research through the CJD Foundation:
Peggy J. Black Memorial Grant
Katie Pohl Dopirak Memorial Research Grant
Jeffrey A. Smith Memorial Research Grant
Donna D. Tepe Memorial Grant
CJD Foundation Grant
Strides for CJD Grant.
The CJD Foundation community
Thank you to everyone who welcomed us so warmly in Chicago. We returned to the lab with renewed motivation and a stronger sense that the best science is built together with the community it aims to serve.
