Byron Caughey, PhD, is a senior investigator and chief of the TSE/Prion Biochemistry Section of the Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in Hamilton, Montana. RML is part of the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health. Dr. Caughey has been on the editorial boards of several journals and is currently the main prion editor for the Journal of Virology and Viruses. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Dr. Caughey's research over the last three decades has focused on neurodegenerative protein misfolding diseases, most notably, prion diseases. Prions are proteins that can move between cells, acting as infectious agents causing serious neurological diseases. Dr. Caughey's laboratory has developed state-of-the-art diagnostic tests for prion diseases in people and animals. Recently, he and his collaborators have also been adapting the basic strategy used in the prion tests to the detection of other diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia.