Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Molecular Biology

Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding

Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding is a research topic within Molecular Biology. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the causes, molecular basis, detection, transmission, and potential treatments for prion diseases, including variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. It explores the role of infectious prions, protein misfolding, and their impact on neurodegenerative diseases. The research also delves into the pathology of these diseases and their transmissibility through blood transfusion.

  • Prion Diseases
  • Molecular Basis
  • Pathological Protein Misfolding
  • Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
  • Infectious Prions
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • Protein Aggregation
  • Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies
  • Cyclic Amplification
  • Cellular Prion Protein
Research works
17k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-9%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
38% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding

Which countries lead Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (519 and 158 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 519 works
  2. 2 China 158 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 123 works
  4. 4 Japan 101 works
  5. 5 Italy 93 works
  6. 6 India 84 works
  7. 7 France 78 works
  8. 8 Germany 77 works
  9. 9 Canada 72 works
  10. 10 Spain 62 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 38.0%China: 11.6%United Kingdom: 9.0%Japan: 7.4%6 others listed: 34.1%38%largest
United States519 · 38.0%China158 · 11.6%United Kingdom123 · 9.0%Japan101 · 7.4%6 others listed466 · 34.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding research?

By volume in 2022-now, National Institutes of Health publishes the most Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding research, followed by University College London and Colorado State University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 National Institutes of HealthUnited States 26 works
  2. 2 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 25 works
  3. 3 Colorado State UniversityUnited States 17 works
  4. 4 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 16 works
  5. 5 Capital Medical UniversityChina 16 works
  6. 6 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 15 works
  7. 7 Harvard UniversityUnited States 14 works
  8. 8 Case Western Reserve UniversityUnited States 14 works
  9. 9 United States Department of AgricultureUnited States 13 works
  10. 10 Mayo ClinicUnited States 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding include Mark J. Daly.

  1. 1 Mark J. Daly United States 403k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding?

The most cited paper in Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding is "The Amyloid Hypothesis of Alzheimer's Disease: Progress and Problems on the Road to Therapeutics" (John Hardy, Dennis J. Selkoe, 2002), with 14,017 citations. Next come "Protein Misfolding, Functional Amyloid, and Human Disease" (6,490) and "Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016" (5,824).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Amyloid Hypothesis of Alzheimer's Disease: Progress and Problems on the Road to Therapeutics John Hardy, Dennis J. Selkoe · Science 19 Jul 2002 14,017
2 Protein Misfolding, Functional Amyloid, and Human Disease Fabrizio Chiti, Christopher Martin Dobson · Annual Review of Biochemistry Review 7 Apr 2006 6,490
3 Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 Valery L. Feigin et al. · The Lancet Neurology Open access510 authors 14 Mar 2019 5,824
4 Prions Stanley Ben Prusiner · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access 10 Nov 1998 5,428
5 Alzheimer's disease: Initial report of the purification and characterization of a novel cerebrovascular amyloid protein George G. Glenner, Caine W. Wong · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications May 1984 5,424
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding research done?

The largest centres of Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Beijing (China), Paris (France) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bethesda.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 48 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 47 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 32 works
  4. 4 TokyoJapan 25 works
  5. 5 BethesdaUnited States 25 works
  6. 6 ClevelandUnited States 19 works
  7. 7 RomeItaly 19 works
  8. 8 MadridSpain 18 works
  9. 9 SeoulSouth Korea 17 works
  10. 10 MilanItaly 17 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BethesdaUS · 25.4 works12×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding than the world average.

See Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding on the map

Where is the best place to study Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding?

Among universities, judged by research, University College London, Harvard University and Colorado State University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 11.78%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Göttin…University College L…Colorado State Unive…Harvard University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University College LondonUnited Kingdom 89.616.8%10.0×25 +0.2%
2Harvard UniversityUnited States 67.314.3%2.8×14 +6.4%
3Colorado State UniversityUnited States 64.114.8%29.6×16 +1.5%
4University of GöttingenGermany 59.420.5%15.8×9 +27.2%
5Case Western Reserve UniversityUnited States 51.812.7%14.7×14 -28.0%
6University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 46.64.4%11.8×16 -28.9%
7University of CalgaryCanada 44.48.5%9.7×10 +9.0%
8Creighton UniversityUnited States 42.311.5%56.7×10 +26.5%
9University of AlbertaCanada 41.313.2%8.2×11 -38.8%
10Capital Medical UniversityChina 36.71.1%9.3×16 +144.7%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding, country by country

Is Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 9% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2006.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0074% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding0.0072% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding. Keep it to the research: no personal attacks, advertising or links. Any reader can report a post, which collapses it for everyone until it is opened.