Failure in science isn’t the end — it’s data. In a new Nature spotlight, Packard Center Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein reflects on the phase I failure of BIIB078, a promising ALS gene therapy that performed flawlessly in the lab but produced the opposite result in patients. His takeaway: even a trial that doesn’t work […]

From the New York Times, May 6, 2026 The development of tofersen stemmed largely from the early fundamental research by Packard investigators and members of the Center’s scientific advisory board Don Cleveland, PhD and Timothy Miller, MD, PhD who made the critical discoveries and model systems necessary to develop tofersen as the candidate therapy. By Pam Belluk: Time was running out […]

Packard-funded investigator Jiou Wang, MD, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University, has helped uncover a surprising culprit behind a shared hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): a protein called ITCH. In a new Science Advances study, researchers report that when ITCH accumulates abnormally inside cells, it disrupts the Golgi apparatus—the cell’s “post […]

In a striking advance for ALS research, Bryan J. Traynor, MD, PhD, a Packard-funded investigator, played a key role on a team that has developed a blood test capable of detecting Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) years before symptoms ever appear. According to a recent study published in Nature Medicine, this blood-based protein signature detects ALS with […]

Holiday Hours The Packard Center development office will be closed for the winter holidays from December 24, 2025, through January 1, 2026. We will reopen on Friday, January 2, 2025. If you need immediate assistance, please contact Meg Whiteford, Sr. Associate Director of Development, at [email protected] or 410-955-8684. 25th Anniversary – $200,000 Match In celebration of the […]

The Packard Center marked a quarter-century of pioneering ALS research with an anniversary celebration at the Presidio Golf Club in San Francisco. The gathering brought together members of the Packard family, researchers, donors, and the Center’s Board of Governors to honor both the organization’s legacy and its namesake, Robert Packard. The evening featured reflections from […]

Three brothers returned to Greystone Golf Course on October 23rd to host the 4th Annual Mike Radcliffe Memorial Golf Tournament, a heartfelt tribute to their father. Michael was passionate about golf, and his love for the game continues to inspire this annual event. Following his courageous three-year battle with ALS, Michael passed away in July 2011, […]

The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins and ALS United are pleased to announce a collaboration to jointly fund preclinical basic science research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This partnership reflects both organizations’ commitment to accelerating breakthrough discoveries that will advance understanding of ALS and bring hope to those affected by the […]

Packard Center and Project ALS host workshop to share knowledge on culturing human neurons as an essential research tool From April 28–30, more than forty leading researchers gathered in Washington, D.C., at the invitation of the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research and Project ALS to discuss the critical challenges of accurately modeling ALS in […]

The Packard Center is part of a cohort of funders supporting a new global initiative to accelerate drug discovery for ALS treatments. The Longitude Prize on ALS is a new £7.5 million [~$10 million USD] global challenge prize to incentivize and reward cutting edge AI-based approaches to transform drug discovery for the treatment of ALS, […]