Repurposing approved drugs against an Alzheimer's signalling pathway
Leon Wang · Stamford, Connecticut
Eighth Place ($60,000) · Regeneron Science Talent Search · 2026
A screen of already-approved medications for effects on a cellular signalling pathway linked to Alzheimer's disease, identifying two with protective effects in lab-grown brain cells.
Two approved drugs reduced activity in the target pathway and showed protective effects in cultured brain cells.
Screening approved drugs means any hit arrives with decades of safety data attached. That single choice removes the longest and most expensive part of the path from result to patient.
- Screening of FDA-approved compounds
- Signalling pathway activity assay
- Lab-grown brain cell models
- Protective effect measurement
- Repurposing screens turn a modest hit into a plausible therapy because the safety work is already done
- A screen needs a pathway-level rationale, or the hits look like coincidence
Archive entries are summaries compiled for study. Read them for how a project was structured, argued, and defended — not as a template to reproduce. Copying someone else's project is the one thing that will end yours.
Compiled by ResearchForge from the Society for Science public award announcement linked on this record. Names, hometowns, project titles and reported results are as published. The "why it worked" and "what to take from this" notes are ResearchForge's editorial reading of that public record — they are not statements by the students and not the judges' rationale. All rights to the original projects remain with their authors; no project materials are rehosted here.