28bioGRANT for Neurodegenerative Disease Awardees Announced

Neurodegenerative disease represents one of the defining biomedical challenges of our time. Despite decades of investment, disease-modifying therapies remain limited, underscoring the need for new approach methods (NAMs) that more faithfully capture human biology.

The 28bioGRANT for Neurodegenerative Disease is designed to assist academic researchers in understanding the human biological underpinnings of these diseases and translating those insights into potential therapeutic strategies.

Chosen from a competitive pool, these projects stood out for their strong scientific rationale and focus on uncovering disease mechanisms through human-relevant approaches.

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CNS-3D Inflammatory Organoids
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Anu Rani

Postdoctoral Researcher, Sharma Lab — Washington State University
Principal Investigator: Dr. Anjali Sharma

Anu Rani’s research focuses on the development of dendrimer-based nanotherapeutic platforms for targeted delivery in the central nervous system. Her work demonstrates neuron-specific delivery across the blood–brain barrier, enabling modulation of neuroinflammation and improved functional outcomes in preclinical models. This approach supports the development of more precise and translatable strategies for neurological disease intervention.

“I am honored to receive the 28bio Grant. This support will advance our work on targeted nanotherapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative diseases using inflammatory organoid models, enabling more precise and translational treatment approaches.”

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CNS-3D Induced Alzheimer’s Kit

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Kellianne Alexander

Postdoctoral Researcher, Young-Pearse Lab — Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Principal Investigator: Dr. Tracy Young-Pearse

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Kellianne Alexander’s project leverages complementary human iPSC-derived 2D systems and CNS-3D Induced Alzheimer’s organoids to define therapeutic responses in Alzheimer’s disease. Her work aims to identify which disease phenotypes and treatment effects are conserved across platforms, and which emerge in more physiologically complex 3D environments—enabling a more robust evaluation of therapeutic interventions and strengthening the translational relevance of human disease models.

"Capturing the complexity of Alzheimer’s disease is essential for understanding its biology and developing effective therapies. By integrating 3D human models with functional and multiomic analyses, this project seeks to further our understanding of disease mechanisms and evaluate treatments in a more translationally relevant way.”

We look forward to supporting Dr. Rani and Dr. Alexander as they advance their work in CNS-targeted nanotherapeutics and iPSC-based Alzheimer’s disease modeling.