Science & Tech

UMBC joins super team to take on the “undruggable” misfolded proteins implicated in diseases from Alzheimer’s to some cancers

Oct 13, 2026 • By UMBC News Staff

UMBC is contributing to a multi-institution research project, funded by the Advanced Research  Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) with up to $51.7 million, that aims to predict how disease causing proteins misfold before irreversible damage occurs and use those predictions to  develop novel diagnostics and treatments. The four-year effort is expected to lead to new ways  of detecting, slowing and treating neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, with an initial focus  on Alzheimer's disease and Ewing sarcoma.