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Sonia M. Vallabh

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Sonia M. Vallabh
Vallabh in 2025
OccupationResearcher
SpouseEric Vallabh Minikel
Academic background
Alma materHarvard University
ThesisAntisense Oligonucleotides for the Prevention of Genetic Prion Disease (2019)
Doctoral advisorStuart L. Schreiber
Academic work
DisciplineBiological and Biomedical Sciences

Sonia Minikel Vallabh is an American scientist focused on prion diseases, particularly fatal familial insomnia. She is noted for being a "patient-scientist" that proactively studies a genetic disorder she is a patient for, aiming to cure it before it kills her.[1][2][3]

Biography

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Before beginning her career as a scientist, Vallabh studied and practiced law, having graduated from Harvard Law School and Swarthmore College.[4] In 2010, her mother, Kanmi, suddenly developed profound and aggressive dementia that killed her six months after symptoms first developed. An autopsy revealed that her mother had died from fatal familial insomnia, an incurable genetic disorder that causes misfolded proteins to destroy the brain. A blood sample from Vallabh herself revealed she had inherited the causal mutation.[5]

The revelation inspired Vallabh and her husband, Eric Vallabh Minikel, to retrain as biomedical scientists with the goal of saving her life.[6][7] She received a Doctorate of Philosophy from Harvard in 2019 and became a senior leader at the Broad Institute prion lab.[8]

In 2023, she earned the Paper of the Year Award from the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society.[9]

As of 2025, prion diseases remain invariably fatal. However, research published by Vallabh and her husband in 2025 may represent the first steps towards treatment, having prolonged the lives of rats with prion disease by 52%.[10][11]

References

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  1. ^ Clancy, Kelly. "One Couple's Tireless Crusade to Stop a Genetic Killer". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  2. ^ Swartz, Aimee (2015-02-05). "Insomnia That Kills". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  3. ^ Burge, Kathleen (2016-02-17). "A husband and wife's race to cure her fatal genetic disease". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  4. ^ "Sonia Vallabh". Broad Institute. 2015-08-20. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  5. ^ Bichell, Rae Ellen (2017-06-19). "A Couple's Quest To Stop A Rare Disease Before It Takes One Of Them". NPR. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  6. ^ Vallabh, Sonia; LeMieux, Julianna (October 2024). "Preventing Prion Disease: An Interview with Sonia Vallabh". GEN Biotechnology. 3 (5): 278–281. doi:10.1089/genbio.2024.0052. ISSN 2768-1572.
  7. ^ Vallabh, Sonia M. (2020-01-09). "The Patient-Scientist's Mandate". New England Journal of Medicine. 382 (2): 107–109. doi:10.1056/nejmp1909471. ISSN 0028-4793.
  8. ^ Friar, Greta (2024-06-26). "A CHARMed collaboration created a potent therapy candidate for fatal prion diseases". Whitehead Institute of MIT. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  9. ^ OTS (2023-12-22). "2023 Paper of the Year Award - Basic Research Category Winner Sonia Vallabh". Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  10. ^ "Epigenetic editors are a gentler form of gene editing". The Economist. 2025-02-24. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  11. ^ Powell, Alvin (2025-04-07). "Team hits milestone toward prion disease treatment". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
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