A recent study isolated mitochondrial fractions from the scrapie SMB-S15 cell model and scrapie 139A- and ME7-infected mouse brains and demonstrated increased expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)-induced kinase1 (PINK1) and parkin in the infected cells and tissues (Gao et al. 2020). The gene discussed is PINK1; the disease is scrapie.