Skip to main content
Navigate back to homepage
Open search bar.
Open main navigation menu

Main navigation

  • Study
    UCL Portico statue
    Study at UCL

    Being a student at UCL is about so much more than just acquiring knowledge. Studying here gives you the opportunity to realise your potential as an individual, and the skills and tools to thrive.

    • Undergraduate courses
    • Graduate courses
    • Short courses
    • Study abroad
    • Centre for Languages & International Education
  • Research
    Tree-of-Life-MehmetDavrandi-UCL-EastmanDentalInstitute-042_2017-18-800x500-withborder (1)
    Research at UCL

    Find out more about what makes UCL research world-leading, how to access UCL expertise, and teams in the Office of the Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation and Global Engagement).

    • Engage with us
    • Explore our Research
    • Initiatives and networks
    • Research news
  • Engage
    UCL Print room
    Engage with UCL

    Discover the many ways you can connect with UCL, and how we work with industry, government and not-for-profit organisations to tackle tough challenges.

    • Alumni
    • Business partnerships and collaboration
    • Global engagement
    • News and Media relations
    • Public Policy
    • Schools and priority groups
    • Visit us
  • About
    UCL welcome quad
    About UCL

    Founded in 1826 in the heart of London, UCL is London's leading multidisciplinary university, with more than 16,000 staff and 50,000 students from 150 different countries.

    • Who we are
    • Faculties
    • Governance
    • President and Provost
    • Strategy
  • Active parent page: Brain Sciences
    • Study
    • Research
    • About the Faculty
    • Active parent page: Institutes and Divisions
    • News and Events
    • Contact

Malin Sandberg

Malin Sandberg

Breadcrumb trail

  • Institutes and Divisions
  • MRC Prion Unit and Institute of Prion diseases
  • Research

Faculty menu

  • John Collinge
  • Iryna Benilova
  • Jan Bieschke
  • Tom Cunningham
  • Parmjit Jat
  • Azy Khalili
  • Peter Klöehn
  • Simon Mead
  • Silvia Purro
  • Current page: Malin Sandberg
  • Jonathan Wadsworth
  • Wenjuan Zhang
  • Histology

MS Port

m.sandberg@prion.ucl.ac.uk

Tel: 020 7679 5094
Courtauld Building, Room G01

  

                                                                                                      

Research Synopsis

Recent advances suggest that prions themselves are not directly neurotoxic, but rather their propagation involves production of toxic species which may be uncoupled from infectivity. A general model has been proposed to encompass these phenomena, centring on the kinetics of prion propagation.
Our research aims to characterise the kinetics of prion propagation and understand its relationship to prion strains, transmission barriers, the onset of neurological disease and clinically silent carrier states.

Selected Publications

Highly infectious prions are not directly neurotoxic.
Benilova I, Reilly M, Terry C, Wenborn A, Schmidt C, Marinho AT, Risse E, Al-Doujaily H, Wiggins De Oliveira M, Sandberg MK, Wadsworth JDF, Jat PS, Collinge J.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Sep 22;117(38):23815-23822. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2007406117. Epub 2020 Sep 8.PMID: 32900920

A systematic investigation of production of synthetic prions from recombinant prion protein.
Schmidt C, Fizet J, Properzi F, Batchelor M, Sandberg MK, Edgeworth JA, Afran L, Ho S, Badhan A, Klier S, Linehan JM, Brandner S, Hosszu LL, Tattum MH, Jat P, Clarke AR, Klöhn PC, Wadsworth JD, Jackson GS, Collinge J.Open Biol. 2015 Dec;5(12):150165. doi: 10.1098/rsob.150165.PMID: 26631378

Prion neuropathology follows the accumulation of alternate prion protein isoforms after infective titre has peaked.
Sandberg MK, Al-Doujaily H, Sharps B, De Oliveira MW, Schmidt C, Richard-Londt A, Lyall S, Linehan JM, Brandner S, Wadsworth JD, Clarke AR, Collinge J.Nat Commun. 2014 Jul 9;5:4347. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5347.PMID: 25005024

N-terminal domain of prion protein directs its oligomeric association.
Trevitt CR, Hosszu LL, Batchelor M, Panico S, Terry C, Nicoll AJ, Risse E, Taylor WA, Sandberg MK, Al-Doujaily H, Linehan JM, Saibil HR, Scott DJ, Collinge J, Waltho JP, Clarke AR.J Biol Chem. 2014 Sep 12;289(37):25497-508. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M114.566588. Epub 2014 Jul 29.PMID: 25074940

A novel prion disease associated with diarrhea and autonomic neuropathy.
Mead S, Gandhi S, Beck J, Caine D, Gallujipali D, Carswell C, Hyare H, Joiner S, Ayling H, Lashley T, Linehan JM, Al-Doujaily H, Sharps B, Revesz T, Sandberg MK, Reilly MM, Koltzenburg M, Forbes A, Rudge P, Brandner S, Warren JD, Wadsworth JDF, Wood NW, Holton JL, Collinge J.N Engl J Med. 2013 Nov 14;369(20):1904-14. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1214747.PMID: 24224623

Prion propagation and toxicity in vivo occur in two distinct mechanistic phases.
Sandberg MK, Al-Doujaily H, Sharps B, Clarke AR, Collinge J.Nature. 2011 Feb 24;470(7335):540-2. doi: 10.1038/nature09768.PMID: 21350487

Chronic wasting disease prions are not transmissible to transgenic mice overexpressing human prion protein.
Sandberg MK, Al-Doujaily H, Sigurdson CJ, Glatzel M, O'Malley C, Powell C, Asante EA, Linehan JM, Brandner S, Wadsworth JD, Collinge J.J Gen Virol. 2010 Oct;91(Pt 10):2651-7. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.024380-0. Epub 2010 Jul 7.PMID: 20610667

UCL footer

Visit

  • Bloomsbury Theatre and Studio
  • Library, Museums and Collections
  • UCL Maps
  • UCL Shop
  • Contact UCL

Students

  • Accommodation
  • Current Students
  • Moodle
  • Students' Union

Staff

  • Inside UCL
  • Staff Intranet
  • Work at UCL
  • Human Resources

UCL social media menu

  • Link to Soundcloud
  • Link to Flickr
  • Link to TikTok
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Twitter

University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 2000

© 2025 UCL

Essential

  • Disclaimer
  • Freedom of Information
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • Slavery statement
  • Log in