Research Summary

I have over 20 years of experience in supervising and managing basic and translational biomedical research and have published more than 50 peer-reviewed publications which have generated 5,000 citations. I have held faculty positions at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Oxford University, and UCSF.

I currently oversee operations at the UCSF Pancreas Center spanning basic research to clinical trials and lead efforts to translate innovative pancreatic cancer research into improved clinical care across the five University of California Comprehensive Cancer Centers.

Research Funding

  • January 1, 1981 - March 31, 2025 - Degenerative and Dementing Diseases of Aging , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P01AG002132

Education

Oxford University, B.A., 1991, Chemistry
Oxford University, D.Phil., 1994, Pharmacology
Weizmann Institute of Science, postdoctoral, 1998, Structural Biology & Neurobiology

Selected Publications

  1. Johnson NR, Yuan P, Castillo E, Lopez TP, Yue W, Bond A, Rivera BM, Sullivan MC, Hirouchi M, Giles K, Aoyagi A, Condello C. CSF1R inhibitors induce a sex-specific resilient microglial phenotype and functional rescue in a tauopathy mouse model. Nat Commun. 2023 01 09; 14(1):118.  View on PubMed
  2. Krejciova Z, Carlson GA, Giles K, Prusiner SB. Replication of multiple system atrophy prions in primary astrocyte cultures from transgenic mice expressing human α-synuclein. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2019 05 20; 7(1):81.  View on PubMed
  3. Woerman AL, Watts JC, Aoyagi A, Giles K, Middleton LT, Prusiner SB. α-Synuclein: Multiple System Atrophy Prions. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2018 07 02; 8(7).  View on PubMed
  4. Zuzana Krejciova, George Carlson, Kurt Giles, Stanley B. Prusiner. Modeling Multiple System Atrophy Prion Propagation in Astrocytes From Transgenic Mice. The FASEB Journal. 2018 Apr 1; 32:819.16-819.16.  View on PubMed
  5. Condello C, Lemmin T, Stöhr J, Nick M, Wu Y, Maxwell AM, Watts JC, Caro CD, Oehler A, Keene CD, Bird TD, van Duinen SG, Lannfelt L, Ingelsson M, Graff C, Giles K, DeGrado WF, Prusiner SB. Structural heterogeneity and intersubject variability of Aβ in familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 01 23; 115(4):E782-E791.  View on PubMed
  6. Johnson NR, Condello C, Guan S, Oehler A, Becker J, Gavidia M, Carlson GA, Giles K, Prusiner SB. Evidence for sortilin modulating regional accumulation of human tau prions in transgenic mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 12 19; 114(51):E11029-E11036.  View on PubMed
  7. Lopez TP, Giles K, Dugger BN, Oehler A, Condello C, Krejciova Z, Castaneda JA, Carlson GA, Prusiner SB. A novel vector for transgenesis in the rat CNS. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2017 Nov 21; 5(1):84.  View on PubMed
  8. Giles K, Woerman AL, Berry DB, Prusiner SB. Bioassays and Inactivation of Prions. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2017 Aug 01; 9(8).  View on PubMed
  9. Giles K, Olson SH, Prusiner SB. Developing Therapeutics for PrP Prion Diseases. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2017 Apr 03; 7(4).  View on PubMed
  10. Watts JC, Giles K, Saltzberg DJ, Dugger BN, Patel S, Oehler A, Bhardwaj S, Sali A, Prusiner SB. Guinea Pig Prion Protein Supports Rapid Propagation of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Prions. J Virol. 2016 11 01; 90(21):9558-9569.  View on PubMed
  11. Watts JC, Giles K, Bourkas ME, Patel S, Oehler A, Gavidia M, Bhardwaj S, Lee J, Prusiner SB. Towards authentic transgenic mouse models of heritable PrP prion diseases. Acta Neuropathol. 2016 10; 132(4):593-610.  View on PubMed
  12. Giles K, Berry DB, Condello C, Dugger BN, Li Z, Oehler A, Bhardwaj S, Elepano M, Guan S, Silber BM, Olson SH, Prusiner SB. Optimization of Aryl Amides that Extend Survival in Prion-Infected Mice. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2016 09; 358(3):537-47.  View on PubMed
  13. Prusiner SB, Woerman AL, Mordes DA, Watts JC, Rampersaud R, Berry DB, Patel S, Oehler A, Lowe JK, Kravitz SN, Geschwind DH, Glidden DV, Halliday GM, Middleton LT, Gentleman SM, Grinberg LT, Giles K. Evidence for α-synuclein prions causing multiple system atrophy in humans with parkinsonism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Sep 22; 112(38):E5308-17.  View on PubMed
  14. Watts JC, Giles K, Serban A, Patel S, Oehler A, Bhardwaj S, Guan S, Greicius MD, Miller BL, DeArmond SJ, Geschwind MD, Prusiner SB. Modulation of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prion propagation by the A224V mutation. Ann Neurol. 2015 Oct; 78(4):540-53.  View on PubMed
  15. Woerman AL, Stöhr J, Aoyagi A, Rampersaud R, Krejciova Z, Watts JC, Ohyama T, Patel S, Widjaja K, Oehler A, Sanders DW, Diamond MI, Seeley WW, Middleton LT, Gentleman SM, Mordes DA, Südhof TC, Giles K, Prusiner SB. Propagation of prions causing synucleinopathies in cultured cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Sep 01; 112(35):E4949-58.  View on PubMed
  16. Giles K, Berry DB, Condello C, Hawley RC, Gallardo-Godoy A, Bryant C, Oehler A, Elepano M, Bhardwaj S, Patel S, Silber BM, Guan S, DeArmond SJ, Renslo AR, Prusiner SB. Different 2-Aminothiazole Therapeutics Produce Distinct Patterns of Scrapie Prion Neuropathology in Mouse Brains. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2015 Oct; 355(1):2-12.  View on PubMed
  17. Berry D, Giles K, Oehler A, Bhardwaj S, DeArmond SJ, Prusiner SB. Use of a 2-aminothiazole to Treat Chronic Wasting Disease in Transgenic Mice. J Infect Dis. 2015 Jul 15; 212 Suppl 1:S17-25.  View on PubMed
  18. Stöhr J, Condello C, Watts JC, Bloch L, Oehler A, Nick M, DeArmond SJ, Giles K, DeGrado WF, Prusiner SB. Distinct synthetic Aβ prion strains producing different amyloid deposits in bigenic mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jul 15; 111(28):10329-34.  View on PubMed
  19. Watts JC, Condello C, Stöhr J, Oehler A, Lee J, DeArmond SJ, Lannfelt L, Ingelsson M, Giles K, Prusiner SB. Serial propagation of distinct strains of Aβ prions from Alzheimer's disease patients. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jul 15; 111(28):10323-8.  View on PubMed
  20. Watts JC, Giles K, Patel S, Oehler A, DeArmond SJ, Prusiner SB. Evidence that bank vole PrP is a universal acceptor for prions. PLoS Pathog. 2014 Apr; 10(4):e1003990.  View on PubMed

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