Michael Coulthart Explained

Michael Coulthart is a Canadian microbiologist who is employed as the head of the Canadian Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease Surveillance System (CJDSS) within the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), which terms CJD a zoonotic and infectious disease.[1] In 2006, a working group named "classic CJD" as well as Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease as two notifiable diseases.[2] It is unknown whether PHAC tracks in an official capacity other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), but Coulthart is on the Advisory Committee of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy for Chronic Wasting Disease of cervidae.[3]

Early life

Little is known of Coulthart's early life.

Career

In 1983, Coulthart worked at McMaster University.[4] He appears to have been affiliated with the University of Quebec around the turn of the millennium while he was researching influenza B viruses.[5] [6] In 2002, he co-authored a study on human pathogenic Vibrio species (a genus of Gram-negative bacteria that cause foodborne infection, usually associated with eating undercooked seafood) on which the first author was at the University of British Columbia.[7]

In 2001, Coulthart teamed up with Neil Cashman to write a paper on "Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: A summary of current scientific knowledge in relation to public health".[8]

As early as December 2003, Coulthart worked at the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, where he reported that "In May 2003, Canada became the 22nd country outside of the United Kingdom to report a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an animal not known to be imported from a country with cattle previously affected by this fatal, transmissible prion disease."[9]

In November 2004, Coulthart was co-author of a study on scrapie of mice. At the time he worked in the Division of Host Genetics and Prion Diseases of the NML.[10] [11]

In 2006, Coulthart participated in research on Cellular prion protein in human platelets.[12]

In 2007, Coulthart participated in research on chronic wasting disease, the term for TSE in deer, elk, and moose, along with collaborator Cashman.[13]

In 2011, Coulthart, Cashman et al studied "the value of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins as diagnostic markers in a clinical population of subacute encephalopathy patients with relatively low prevalence of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD)."[14]

In 2013, Coulthart Cashman et al described at an academic conference Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease reporting in Canada.[15]

In 2014, Coulthart et al studied the RT-QuIC assay, which is "able to detect low levels of the disease-inducing isoform of the prion protein (PrP(d)) in brain tissue biopsies and (CSF)," and "has great potential to become a method for diagnosing prion disease ante mortem."[16]

In 2019, Coulthart was concerned with a girl from Ontario who died of sCJD "with initially rapid neurocognitive decline followed by a prolonged (~10 years) clinical course. Neuropathological findings at autopsy included generalized cerebral and cerebellar atrophy with relative sparing of the hippocampi, cerebral and cerebellar white matter and gray matter involvement, minimal spongiform change, PrP deposits in the neocortex, striatum and cerebellum by immunohistochemistry, and protease-resistant PrP by Western immunoblot. With its longer disease duration and atypical manifestations of white matter loss, CJD-LS can be clinically mistaken for other neurodegenerative diseases, or in the pediatric setting for metabolic or genetic conditions. This case clearly demonstrates that with rapid-onset encephalopathy, prion disease should be carefully considered, even in younger patients with slower disease progression."[17]

In June 2019, Coulthart was the lead interviewee who was called to answer the question: "Why did deer meat from an infected herd end up in Canada's food chain?" when "scientists, indigenous leaders and wildlife advocates signed a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging immediate action to stop the spread" of CWD in Canada, and "to recognize the dire nature of this epidemic." Amongst the signatories of this letter was Coulthart's colleague Cashman. The catalyst was the plague of CWD that was discovered on or around certain deer farms in southern Quebec.[18] Coulthart had on 15 March 2019 made a presentation to the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (who are an intimately concerned party because they eat the meat from the deer which they kill) about the problem of CWD.[19]

Coulthart was the federal lead on the 2021 investigation into the New Brunswick neurological syndrome of unknown cause (NSUC) cluster, which was first identified in 2019. The existence of the disease cluster was published in a provincial government memo which was leaked to the Radio-Canada through a whistleblower.[20] By 26 March 2021, Coulthart as CJDSS director, had ruled out "a prion disease such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)" even though there were many similarities. At that time, early on in their research, a "top priority" was to investigate possible exposure to toxins.[21]

Notes and References

  1. News: Michael Coulthart . 3 April 2021 . goc411.ca.
  2. Doherty . JA . Final report and recommendations from the National Notifiable Diseases Working Group . Canada Communicable Disease Report . 1 October 2006 . 32 . 19 . 211–25 . 17076030.
  3. News: Michael Coulthart, Ph.D. . 3 April 2021 . Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
  4. Coulthart . Michael B. . Rhomberg . Lorenz R. . Singh . Rama S. . The Nature of Genetic Variation for Species Formation . Evolution . May 1984 . 38 . 3 . 689–692 . 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1984.tb00336.x. 28555966 . 12537493 .
  5. Hardy . Isabelle . Li . Yan . Coulthart . Michael B . Goyette . Nathalie . Boivin . Guy . Molecular evolution of influenza A/H3N2 viruses in the province of Québec (Canada) during the 1997–2000 period . Virus Research . August 2001 . 77 . 1 . 89–96 . 10.1016/s0168-1702(01)00269-6. 11451491 .
  6. Abed . Yacine . Coulthart . Michael B. . Li . Yan . Boivin . Guy . Evolution of Surface and Nonstructural-1 Genes of Influenza B Viruses Isolated in the Province of Québec, Canada, during the 1998–2001 Period . Virus Genes . 2003 . 27 . 2 . 125–135 . 10.1023/a:1025768308631. 14501190 . 6022963 .
  7. Kwok . Anita Y. C. . Wilson . Jason T. . Coulthart . Michael . Ng . Lai-King . Mutharia . Lucy . Chow . Anthony W. . Phylogenetic study and identification of human pathogenic Vibrio species based on partial hsp60 gene sequences . Canadian Journal of Microbiology . 10 February 2011 . 48 . 10 . 903–910 . 10.1139/w02-089. 12489780 .
  8. 11468957. 2001. Coulthart. M. B.. Cashman. N. R.. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: A summary of current scientific knowledge in relation to public health. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 165. 1. 51–58. 81246.
  9. Coulthart . Michael B . Mogk . Rhonda . Rancourt . Jason M . Godal . Deborah L . Czub . Stefanie . Prion protein gene sequence of Canada's first non-imported case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) . Genome . 1 December 2003 . 46 . 6 . 1005–1009 . 10.1139/g03-124. 14663519 .
  10. Booth . Stephanie . Bowman . Christopher . Baumgartner . Richard . Sorensen . Garrett . Robertson . Catherine . Coulthart . Michael . Phillipson . Clark . Somorjai . Rajmund L. . Identification of central nervous system genes involved in the host response to the scrapie agent during preclinical and clinical infection . Journal of General Virology . 1 November 2004 . 85 . 11 . 3459–3471 . 10.1099/vir.0.80110-0. 15483264 . free .
  11. Booth . Stephanie . Bowman . Christopher . Baumgartner . Richard . Dolenko . Brion . Sorensen . Garrett . Robertson . Catherine . Coulthart . Michael . Phillipson . Clark . Somorjai . Rajmund . Molecular classification of scrapie strains in mice using gene expression profiling . Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications . December 2004 . 325 . 4 . 1339–1345 . 10.1016/j.bbrc.2004.10.150. 15555574 .
  12. Robertson . Catherine . Booth . Stephanie A. . Beniac . Daniel R. . Coulthart . Michael B. . Booth . Timothy F. . McNicol . Archibald . Cellular prion protein is released on exosomes from activated platelets . Blood . 15 May 2006 . 107 . 10 . 3907–3911 . 10.1182/blood-2005-02-0802. 16434486 . free .
  13. Li . Li . Coulthart . Michael B. . Balachandran . Aru . Chakrabartty . Avi . Cashman . Neil R. . Species barriers for chronic wasting disease by in vitro conversion of prion protein . Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications . December 2007 . 364 . 4 . 796–800 . 10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.10.087. 17964288 .
  14. Coulthart . Michael B . Jansen . Gerard H . Olsen . Elina . Godal . Deborah L . Connolly . Tim . Choi . Bernard CK . Wang . Zheng . Cashman . Neil R . Diagnostic accuracy of cerebrospinal fluid protein markers for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Canada: a 6-year prospective study . BMC Neurology . December 2011 . 11 . 1 . 133 . 10.1186/1471-2377-11-133. 22032272 . 3216246 . free .
  15. 10.4161/pri.24865. Prion and Prion-like Diseases in Humans: Poster Abstracts. Prion. 2013. 7. sup1. 54–80. 29095080. 4031668. 42037283. free.
  16. Cheng . Keding . Sloan . Angela . Avery . Kristen M. . Coulthart . Michael . Carpenter . Michael . Knox . J. David . Exploring Physical and Chemical Factors Influencing the Properties of Recombinant Prion Protein and the Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC) Assay . PLOS ONE . 3 January 2014 . 9 . 1 . e84812 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0084812. 24404191 . 3880330 . 2014PLoSO...984812C . free .
  17. D’Arcy . Colleen E . Bitnun . Ari . Coulthart . Michael B . D’Amour . Rolande . Friedman . Jeremy . Knox . J David . Rapoport . Adam . Carter . Snead . Widjaja . Elysa . Hazrati . Lili-Naz . Jansen . Gerard H . Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in a Young Girl With Unusually Long Survival . Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology . 1 April 2019 . 78 . 4 . 373–378 . 10.1093/jnen/nlz013. 30856268 . free .
  18. News: Crowe . Kelly . Why did deer meat from an infected herd end up in Canada's food chain? . CBC . 22 June 2019.
  19. News: Dr. Michael Coulthart speaks about the potential connections between #cwd and human health #fightcwd . Twitter . Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters . 15 March 2019.
  20. News: Brewer . Jonna . The Public Health Agency of Canada is working with the province to find the source of a deadly neurological disease in NB . Information Morning - Moncton with Jonna Brewer . CBC Listen . 24 March 2021.
  21. News: Bissett . Kevin . Researcher says brain disorder in N.B. may be linked to environmental exposure . The Canadian Press . Verizon Media . https://web.archive.org/web/20210428123414/https://ca.news.yahoo.com/researcher-says-brain-disorder-n-170149695.html . 28 April 2021 . 26 March 2021.

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