RNAV8 Bio was selected for ARPA-H funding under PROPEL, a program aimed at building programmable RNA medicines with more controllable protein output and precise localization. The one-year pilot award provides up to $4.4 million as the Harvard and MIT/Whitehead-led effort tries to turn RNA structure—especially UTR folding—into a drug-tunable control layer. The project workflow centers on screening mRNA protein output from libraries, engineering delivery UTRs, and validating results at the cargo level—pushing RNA therapeutics toward more predictable behavior in vivo. ARPA-H framed the effort as bridging a regulatory-critical gap: turning biological promise into consistent, controllable medicine formats. For the broader biotech ecosystem, PROPEL’s emphasis on localized expression and engineering “dials” could shape how next-generation RNA constructs are designed and evaluated.