UNC Pembroke Neuroscientist Receives Sigma Xi Award for Alzheimer’s Drug Development
Dr. Ben Bahr grabbed the 2026 Dr. Philip J. Wyatt Technology Transfer Award from Sigma Xi. Why? His work on a pill for Alzheimer’s disease. The William C. Friday Distinguished…
Dr. Ben Bahr (left) Genevieve Kipsisin, summer undergrad researcher from Columbia University, and Lab Manager Miranda Chebahtah, discuss their research at UNCP’s Biotechnology Research and Training Center.
Image Courtesy UNC PembrokeDr. Ben Bahr grabbed the 2026 Dr. Philip J. Wyatt Technology Transfer Award from Sigma Xi. Why? His work on a pill for Alzheimer's disease. The William C. Friday Distinguished Professor at UNC Pembroke earned this recognition because his research might turn into a real product that helps patients.
The award brings $7,500, according to a press release from the university. Bahr will give every penny to UNCP's Alzheimer's disease research program.
Sigma Xi created the Wyatt Award in 2025 to shine a light on members whose research could become something people can buy and use. This honor society is the world's largest group for scientists and engineers.
Bahr's lab is building a pill that helps brains flush out several harmful proteins tied to Alzheimer's. Most current treatments need intravenous infusions and only attack one part of the disease. An oral medication could make future treatments easier to get while causing fewer problems for patients.
"This award recognizes not only the scientific discoveries we've made, but the work required to move those discoveries beyond the laboratory," Bahr said in the release. "Commercialization is about building the partnerships needed to reach the clinical trial stage and eventually bring an effective treatment to patients in all communities."
A $1.1 million NCInnovation grant paid for the work, which has produced patented discoveries, a spinoff company called Neuralkis Therapeutics, and partnerships with labs in the United States and Europe.
Safety tests happened through the McAllister Heart Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill, Charles River Laboratories in Finland, and Eurofins Laboratories in California and Missouri. Bahr's team will show its research to possible industry partners at ConvergeSouth 2026 in Winston-Salem this August.
Bahr has written more than 150 scientific papers. He's gotten several patents. His research digs into the biological processes behind Alzheimer's disease and other brain disorders that get worse over time.
"Dr. Bahr has devoted his career to confronting one of medicine's most difficult challenges, and this award is a fitting recognition of his persistence, ingenuity and impact," said UNCP chancellor Robin Gary Cummings in a statement.
"Hopefully one day our drug will be available for humans to treat Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other devastating diseases," Bahr said. "That's what technology transfer is really about — taking ideas developed at a university and getting them into communities to help people live healthier and happier."