u/alii94

Looks like Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel have found a potential treatment for CJD which involves small interfering RNA (siRNA).

The phase 1 trial will enroll 15 patients diagnosed with prion disease who have symptoms of the neurodegenerative disorder.

The drug candidate is a divalent small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecule designed to cut target RNA, so cells produce less of the disease-causing prion protein. 

The trial will test the safety and dosing of the siRNA, and help determine whether the drug candidate should advance to larger clinical trials. 

https://www.broadinstitute.org/news/clinical-trial-prion-disease-drug-candidate-begins-enrolling-participants

I think we should give some credit to some post-islamic Persian empires that were devoted to reviving the Persian identity. Empires such as the Samanids, Saffarids, and Tahirids

definitely deserve recognition for resistance against Arabization of Iran.

The legend Yaqub ibn al-layth Saffar resisted the Abbasids and devoted his life in restoring the Persian identity. What an absolute G.

It was during Ya'qub's rule that Persian was introduced as an official language, and Ya'qub reportedly did not know Arabic.[64][65] Ya'qub has been accorded the historical status of a popular folk hero since his court began the revitalization of the Persian language after two centuries in which the Arabic language flourished in Persian lands.[3]

The Saffarids patronized the Persian language in the form of court poetry and established Persianate culture.[20] Under their rule, the eastern Islamic world witnessed the emergence of prominent Persian poets such as Fayrouz Mashriqi, Abu Salik al-Jirjani, and Muhammad ibn Wasif, who was a court poet.[21]

In the later 9th century, the Saffarids gave impetus to a renaissance of New Persian literature and culture. Following Ya'qub's conquest of Herat, some poets chose to celebrate his victory in Arabic, whereupon Ya'qub requested his secretary, Muhammad bin Wasif al-Sistani, to compose those verses in Persian.[22]

The Samanids:

The Samanids were the dawgs of the dawgs in establishing and completing the de-arabization of Iranic lands. Arabic was still used, but mainly in religious ceremonies. Hadnt of been for the Samanids, Iranians would probably succumb to Arabization by the Abassids.

Scholars note that the Samanids did more to revive Persian language and culture than did the Buyids or the Saffarids, all the while continuing to use Arabic for science and religion. They considered themselves to be descendants of the Sasanian Empire.[10][2] In a famous edict, the Samanids declare that "here, in this region, the language is Persian, and the kings of this realm are Persian kings."[2]

He was a dehqan of Iranian origin from the village of Saman in Balkh province,[11][12] in present-day northern Afghanistan.[13] The earliest appearance of the Samanid family appears to be in Greater Khorasan rather than Transoxiana.[14] In some sources, the Samanids claimed to be descended from the House of Mihran of Bahram Chobin.[b]

The Tahirids:

Tahirids werent part of the Persian renaissance, however, they recognized themselves as Iranians who were Arabized. They initiated the resurgence of Persian identity, language, and culture, which was continued and amplified by the Saffarids. Still, absolute G's IMO. Honestly, the Tahirids were only loyal and kissed ass to the caliphate just so they could keep their identity somehow intact (which worked as planned).

However, according to the historian Shivan Mahendrarajah, in reference to the dynasties of the Iranian Intermezzo of which the Tahirids are considered part:[28]

Persian (the language) and Iranian (the identity) were reasserting themselves. Iranians were adapting Arab-Islamic cultural tenets through a process of 'take the best, leave the rest'.

Within this context, Mahendrarajah adds that the Tahirids were specifically responsible for initiating the process by which Persian became written in the Perso-Arabic script, referring to this as "an ingenious Iranian adaption that allowed them to retain the heritage and charm of the Persian language".[28]