Capital Region Receives $71M in NIH AWARDS, Curia Grants Set Company Record
The National Institutes of Health in fiscal year 2022 awarded $71.2 million in research grants to 19 Capital Region institutions and businesses. Curia helped boost that total with the Albany pharmaceutical company receiving its greatest amount of NIH R&D funding, according to a Center for Economic Growth (CEG) analysis of NIH’s Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT).
In fiscal 2022, the NIH awarded 152 research grants totaling $71,218,504. That was a 3.2 percent annual funding decline. The NIH centers that awarded the most funding in the Capital Region were the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) with 13 awards totaling $9.9 million and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIADA) with 22 awards totaling $9.7 million.
Top Awardees
Albany Medical College led the Capital Region in NIH funding with 35 awards totaling $11.5 million. It was followed by Curia (formerly AMRI) with 15 awards totaling $11.6 million. Curia’s 2022 total was an 81 percent increase over the previous year and its greatest annual amount on record. Examples of Curia’s NIH-funded projects include joint research with Anagin for a stroke therapeutic ($1.3 million), joint research with Rutgers University and Scripps Research Institute for a Parkinson’s therapeutic ($1.5 million) and therapeutics for Lyme Disease ($443,000).
Startups
Three Capital Region startups received NIH awards. In Glenmont, Early Alzheimer’s Diagnostics, co-founded by the University at Albany chemist Igor Lednev, received a $306,974 grant from the NIA for research on screening for Alzheimers Disease based on Raman spectroscopy of blood. In Clifton Park, IPACES, founded by Union College professor Cay Anderson-Hanley, received two NIA grants totaling $75,536 related to its neuro-exergaming for the prevention and remediation of decline due to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. One grant was for consulting support as the startup interprets clinical trial data with an eye toward commercialization. And the other grant was for a Spanish language adaptation of the interactive Physical and Cognitive Exercise System (iPACES). In Wynantskill, Vascular Visions Pharmaceuticals also received its largest award: $996,212 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for research on a sulfated non-anticoagulant heparin nanoparticle for Sickle Cell Disease management.
AWARDS
Other interesting NIH awards include:
UAlbany: Weather extremes, natural disasters, and health outcomes among vulnerable older adults: New improvements on exposure assessment, disparity identification, and risk communication strategies (NIA, $388,608)
GE Research: Minimal False-alarm Touch-based Detection of SARS-Cov-2 Virus Particles using Poly-aptamers (NIAAA, $599,859).
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Effects of Advanced Glycation Endproducts on Type 2 Diabetic and Fragility Fractures (NIA, $598,797)
Albany Medical College: Artificial intelligence enhanced cancer cell classification based organelle morphology and topology (NCI, $230,154)
CEG INITIATIVES
CEG is supporting the growth of the region’s life sciences cluster by leading the following initiatives:
Marketing the Capital Region’s life sciences R&D assets at talent pipeline.
Improving businesses’ access to labs at facilities, such as those at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and others affiliated with Innovate 518, a University at Albany-led collaborative effort of Capital Region incubators, accelerators, and entrepreneurial service providers.
Helping biotech firms, such as Vital Vio and Precision Valve & Automation grow through its Business Growth Solutions services, including continuous improvement, technology acceleration, energy and sustainability, supply chain development and workforce initiatives.
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