The Generative Brain

Robert Koch Institute, Prion and Prionoid Research Unit (Berlin)

The Prion and Prionoid Research Unit is a laboratory group at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's federal public health institute, in Berlin. It sits in ZBS 6, Proteomics and Spectroscopy, within the Centre for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens. The current RKI page lists a Group 3, Prions and Prionoids, headed by Achim Thomzig, whose remit is how prions and prion-like seeds (prionoids) of CJD and Parkinson disease seed misfolding, how to inactivate or remove them from surgical instruments and other medical devices, and alternatives to animal bioassays. Its published work centres on decontamination: steam sterilisation of CJD prions and of Parkinson disease alpha-synuclein seeds. The same research line appeared under an earlier RKI unit code, P26, pathogenesis and diagnostics of TSE, in 2004. RKI was a named partner of the APRI primate CWD study in 2007, and three unit scientists co-wrote the 2026 Science Advances macaque paper. Mandatory CJD reporting and national surveillance in Germany run through health offices, RKI epidemiology and the Goettingen reference center; no source opened gives this research unit a surveillance or patient diagnostic role. Information only, not medical advice.

Key facts

  • The RKI page for ZBS 6 (dated 30 September 2026) names Peter Lasch as head of ZBS 6 and Achim Thomzig as head of Group 3, Prions and Prionoids; the deputy head post is shown as vacant.
  • Group 3 remit as stated by RKI: the molecular and structural basis of prion and prionoid seeding in CJD and Parkinson disease; development and validation of methods to inactivate or remove prions and prionoid seeds from surgical instruments and other medical devices; and alternatives to animal bioassays for measuring seeding activity. The ZBS 6 diagnostics group works on samples from unusual biological events, not on human prion diagnosis.
  • In a 2022 study the unit, with the RKI hospital hygiene division, measured by PMCA how fast steam sterilisation at 134 C removes CJD prion seeding activity: sCJD VV2 activity was gone by 5 minutes, while vCJD kept some activity after 18 minutes. The authors back the recommended 5 minute 134 C cycle provided instruments are not first treated with a fixing chemical disinfectant and cleaning leaves under 100 micrograms of protein per instrument.
  • In 2020 the unit reported that alpha-synuclein seeds from Parkinson disease brain lost only about 2.25 log units of seeding activity after 5 minutes at 134 C, with no further loss at 90 minutes, which the authors read as greater resistance than prions and a reason to validate reprocessing methods.
  • A 2014 paper on decontaminating medical devices from amyloid-beta, tau and alpha-synuclein aggregates is the earliest Europe PMC record under the "Prion and Prionoid Research Unit, ZBS 6" affiliation; 11 records carry that name between 2014 and 2026.
  • A 2021 unit paper, funded by RKI and the Federal Ministry of Health, found that brain and stomach wall tissue from Parkinson disease patients caused subtle alpha-synuclein aggregation in transgenic mice without overt disease.
  • In 2004 the same research line was published under RKI unit P26, Pathogenese und Diagnostik Transmissibler Spongiformer Enzephalopathien. That year RKI authors including Beekes set out requirements for testing and declaring prion inactivation procedures for medical device reprocessing, building on the RKI Task Force vCJK recommendation of alkaline cleaning plus 134 C steam sterilisation.
  • CORDIS listed the Robert Koch Institute among partners of the 3.5 million euro APRI funded primate CWD study announced on 8 November 2007, without describing its role. The 2026 Science Advances paper lists Michael Beekes, Joo-Hee Waelzlein and Karla Schwenke under the RKI Prion and Prionoid Research Unit, ZBS 6; Beekes is credited with conceptualisation, methodology, funding acquisition and supervision.
  • The Robert Koch-Institut, Berlin, is a listed participant in the EU FP6 NEUROPRION network (2003 to 2009); the record names the institute, not a unit.
  • Under section 6 of the Infektionsschutzgesetz, human spongiform encephalopathies other than familial hereditary forms must be reported by name to the local health office. RKI has monitored the German CJD situation from these reports since 1994, the Goettingen National Reference Center actively finds cases, and about 80 to 120 sporadic CJD cases are reported each year; no vCJD case had occurred in Germany as of July 2024. The RKI FAQ does not mention the prion research unit.

Timeline

  1. 1977RKI begins work on diagnosis and pathogenesis of TSE (Bundestag paper, search excerpt only).
  2. 1994RKI starts national CJD monitoring from health office reports.
  3. 2003EU NEUROPRION network starts, with RKI as a participant.
  4. 2004RKI paper on testing and declaring prion inactivation procedures for medical devices.
  5. 2004Prion research published under RKI unit P26 (pathogenesis and diagnostics of TSE).
  6. 2007CORDIS names RKI as a partner in the APRI primate CWD study.
  7. 2014First paper under the Prion and Prionoid Research Unit, ZBS 6 name, on decontaminating devices from amyloid-beta, tau and alpha-synuclein.
  8. 2020Alpha-synuclein steam sterilisation paper published online.
  9. 2021Alpha-synuclein transmission paper published online.
  10. 2022CJD steam sterilisation kinetics paper published online.
  11. 2026Science Advances macaque CWD paper with three unit authors.
  12. 2026RKI unit page lists Group 3, Prions and Prionoids, under Achim Thomzig.
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