Adriano Aguzzi is professor and director of the Institute of Neuropathology at the University of Zurich. He has devoted the past 25 years to studying the immunological and molecular basis of prion pathogenesis, combining transgenetics with molecular and immunological techniques to clarify the pathogenesis of the disease, and to identify cells and molecules involved in prion neuroinvasion. He is the Founder and Director of the Swiss National Reference Center for Prion Diseases and has developed diagnostic and therapeutic methods in the field of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. He serves on the editorial board of Science and is the Editor in Chief of the Swiss Medical Weekly; he also serves on the scientific advisory board of philanthropic foundations and biomedical companies. Among other honors, Prof. Aguzzi has won Ernst-Jung Prize, the Robert Koch Prize, and the medal of the European Molecular Biology Organization, and has held two ERC Advanced Grants.