The Generative Brain
Universidad de Zaragoza prion research group and Centro de Encefalopatias y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes (CEETE), lead partner of Interreg REDPRION and partner in NEURO-COOP logo

Universidad de Zaragoza prion research group and Centro de Encefalopatias y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes (CEETE), lead partner of Interreg REDPRION and partner in NEURO-COOP

The University of Zaragoza veterinary prion group, now housed in the Centro de Encefalopatias y Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes on the veterinary campus at C/ Miguel Servet 177, is one of the oldest animal prion disease centres in Spain. It grew out of a national reference centre for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) set up in 1996 under an agreement between the university and the agriculture ministry. In 2000 a royal decree named its veterinary pathology department the national reference laboratory for confirming animal TSE cases. The university created the present centre around 2016, with research and reference diagnosis in prion diseases and other emerging animal diseases as its stated purpose. It is listed by WOAH as reference laboratory for both BSE and scrapie in its 2023 to 2025 reports. A new national designation order in force from 1 October 2026 names the Algete central veterinary laboratory for TSEs and does not mention Zaragoza, so the national role may have ended; this is not confirmed. The group was lead partner of the Interreg POCTEFA REDPRION network on human and animal prion diseases from 2018 and is a partner in its successor NEURO-COOP. Most of its papers are on scrapie, BSE and chronic wasting disease; a smaller human strand covers glial changes in CJD brain tissue and BSE and vCJD strain behaviour in human PrP mice. Information only, not medical advice.

Key facts

  • The centre home page describes it as a University of Zaragoza centre whose main aims are reference research and diagnosis in TSEs and other emerging transmissible animal diseases, at C/ Miguel Servet 177, Zaragoza.
  • Search excerpts of university governance documents say the Governing Council created the centre by an agreement of 23 February 2016, building on a national TSE reference centre that had worked since 1996 under a university and agriculture ministry agreement; its rules were amended in 2023 and on 4 February 2026. The TSE research page lists a ministry and university agreement running 1996 to 2015 and an Aragon government agreement 2000 to 2015.
  • Real Decreto 3454/2000, in its original text of 23 December 2000, named the anatomical pathology department of the Zaragoza veterinary faculty as national reference laboratory for diagnosis of animal TSEs, mainly to confirm positive or doubtful cases from regional laboratories and from Algete.
  • Real Decreto 682/2026 rewrote that article from 1 October 2026 so it points to a separate designation order, and that order, Orden PJC/1015/2026, designates the Laboratorio Central de Veterinaria at Algete for TSEs and lists no Universidad de Zaragoza laboratory. None of the three texts has a transitional clause keeping the 2000 designation, so on these texts Zaragoza holds no national reference role for animal TSEs from 1 October 2026; whether it keeps informal, research or WOAH roles is unknown.
  • WOAH reference laboratory reports for BSE and for scrapie for activity years 2023, 2024 and 2025 place the laboratory at this centre, with a named professor as head of laboratory and the centre founder as WOAH reference expert; the 2025 BSE excerpt reports 1,451 indirect diagnostic tests nationally and none internationally. These were read only as search excerpts.
  • The group was lead beneficiary of REDPRION (EFA148/16), the 2018 cross-border network on human and animal prion diseases, with 540,000 euro of its 2,000,000 euro budget; the REDPRION site names two Zaragoza project leads.
  • The university projects office lists NEURO-COOP (POCTEFA 2021-2027) with two Zaragoza principal investigators, a budget of 540,000 euro and 351,000 euro ERDF, and aims that include early diagnosis, body fluid biomarkers and the resistance of misfolded proteins to decontamination; the project site lists Zaragoza among six partners with actions from March 2024 to September 2026.
  • Human prion work read here: a 2018 study of astrocyte and microglial activation in CJD cerebellum; a 2021 study of glial changes across CJD types with the UK National CJD Research and Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh; and a 2022 PLoS Pathogens study in which BSE and a vCJD isolate propagated in non-glycosylated human PrP mice kept BSE features, led from Zaragoza with Toulouse, CIC bioGUNE, CISA-INIA and Case Western partners.
  • Animal prion output is far larger: Europe PMC returns preclinical scrapie biomarker work in CSF, plasma exosomes, serum and blood microRNAs, prions in ovine oocytes, goat PRNP resistance and caprine BSE, and a pilot therapy assay with the tetanus toxin C fragment in scrapie mice; two 2025 and 2026 papers acknowledge NEURO-COOP. No decontamination or inactivation study from Zaragoza was found.
  • The TSE research page says the group led a priority line and served as one of the European tissue banks in the EU NeuroPrion Network of Excellence, took part in the EU GoatBSE project (2006 to 2010), and has been a consolidated research group recognised by the Aragon government since 2005.
  • Listed collaborators include NEIKER, PRIOCAT at IRTA-CReSA, CISA-INIA, CIC bioGUNE, the Fundacion Hospital Alcorcon reference centre for autopsies of suspected human prion cases, INRAE Toulouse, the EU TSE reference laboratory in Turin and Rome, APHA Weybridge and the University of Alberta prion centre.
  • A senior professor of the centre became the first woman Rector of the University of Zaragoza on 5 May 2025; public professional role only.

Timeline

  1. 1996National TSE reference centre starts at the Zaragoza veterinary faculty under a university and agriculture ministry agreement.
  2. 2000Real Decreto 3454/2000 names the Zaragoza veterinary pathology department national reference laboratory for animal TSE diagnosis.
  3. 2004EU NeuroPrion Network of Excellence (FOOD-2004-506579), in which Zaragoza leads a priority line and holds a tissue bank.
  4. 2005Group recognised as a consolidated research group by the Aragon government.
  5. 2016Governing Council agreement creating the centre, per search excerpts.
  6. 2018REDPRION starts with Zaragoza as lead partner.
  7. 2018Study of glial activation in CJD cerebellum published.
  8. 2021Study of glial changes across CJD types with the Edinburgh surveillance unit published.
  9. 2022BSE and vCJD strain study in human PrP mice published in PLoS Pathogens.
  10. 2024NEURO-COOP actions start.
  11. 2025NEURO-COOP funded paper on prions in oocytes and ovaries of scrapie ewes.
  12. 2025A centre professor takes office as Rector of the university.
  13. 2026Amendment of the centre rules, per search excerpts.
  14. 2026NEURO-COOP funded paper on preclinical scrapie biomarkers.
  15. 2026Planned end of the NEURO-COOP actions.
  16. 2026New national reference laboratory order in force; TSEs assigned to Algete, Zaragoza not named.
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