UMBI focuses much of its research efforts on ways to use biotechnology to diagnose, treat, and cure human disease and ailments. Several of UMBI's highly talented researchers focus their efforts on the biology of human medicine at the most basic biological levels. Recent innovations include a contact lens that contains a sugar monitor for diabetics, a model for replicating birnavirus immunity, and the discovery of Erasin, a novel human protein that functions like a molecular eraser by removing misfolded proteins commonly associated with such diseases as Huntington's Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Pendred Syndrome, and Alzheimer's Disease.