By Krisy Gashler
Over the last 20 years as the climate has warmed, extreme wildfires have doubled in frequency, carrying air pollution and smog across continents. Now, Cornell researchers are investigating whether wildfire smoke may also be carrying chronic wasting disease – the neurological illness, caused by misfolded proteins called prions, that afflicts members of the deer family.
“We know that live, pathogenic material, such as bacteria and fungi, can be found in smoke samples, and we know that prions are significantly more durable than bacteria or fungi are. So this led us to wonder if it’s possible for prions to also become airborne and spread via wildfires,” said Alyssa Wetterau Kaganer ’13, Ph.D. ’21, research associate at the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab in the College of Veterinary Medicine. “Chronic wasting disease transmits largely through direct contact between an infected animal and a susceptible animal, but there are also new infections that pop up across the landscape in places where we don’t have a clear source for infected animals or animal products.”
Kaganer is leading a team that will explore that question, with support from a 2026 Academic Venture Fund grant from the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Five other research teams selected this year will explore strategies to support agroforestry in Uganda, improve charging of electric vehicles and eliminate emissions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in semiconductor manufacturing, among others.
To understand whether chronic wasting disease (CWD) could become airborne via fire, Kaganer will utilize controlled furnaces maintained by the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), add samples known to be infected with chronic wasting disease and heat them to a variety of temperatures.
Source : cornell.edu