1997 Nobel Prize

The 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Stanley B. Prusiner for discovering prions—protein particles that can cause infectious diseases by misfolding. Unlike bacteria or viruses, prions are just proteins, yet they can induce normal proteins in the brain to also misfold, leading to deadly brain diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob. This discovery revolutionized understanding of certain neurodegenerative diseases and highlighted a new type of infectious agent. Prusiner’s work challenged existing beliefs, showing that infectiousness could arise from abnormal proteins, opening new avenues for disease research and diagnosis.