'Understanding how rogue prions kill cells is crucial to learning more about the prion diseases that remain a major concern for public and animal health following the BSE epidemic in UK cattle and the emergence of its human counterpart variant CJD. This work forms part of a major research strategy at the MRC Prion Unit to translate basic research findings into potential treatments in the years ahead. The underlying mechanism by which rogue prion proteins disrupt the UPS may be of wider relevance in understanding how misshaped proteins cause other disorders too, like Alzheimer's disease.''