$58M in NIH Funding Awarded in Capital Region for R&D
Two Capital Region startups received their first research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in fiscal 2023, and the area’s two largest universities also received their largest amounts of NIH funding in several years, according to a Center for Economic Growth (CEG) analysis of data from the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT).
Last fiscal year, institutions and firms in the eight-county Capital Region received NIH awards totaling $58,250,323. That marked an 18.2 percent decline from FY 2022.
Capital Region startups that received their first NIH awards were Regenerative solutions and sxRNA Technologies, both of which are UAlbany spinouts. Regenerative solutions received a $172,095 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for innovative sorbents for stabilizing per- and polyfluoroalky substances (PFAS) in contaminated soil. sxRNA Technologies is a spin out from UAlbany’s College of Nanoscale Sciences and Engineering that received $500,000 from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) for R&D on creating an sxRNA organoid product for the study, prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
IPACES, a Union College spinout, received one of the region’s largest NIH awards: $1,326,588 from the NIA. IPACES, or interactive Physical and Cognitive Exercise System, has developed a neuro-exergame that, when combined with an under-table elliptical pedaler, has been found to significantly improve executive function among users. IPACES’ new NIH grant will go toward a clinical trial studying whether those results can be replicated and extended among users with Parkinson’s disease. Since FY 2020, IPACES has received five NIH awards totaling $3,872,106.
In FY2023, UAlbany received 43 awards totaling $12,375,819 – more than any other institution or firm in the region. That was a 24 percent increase in funding from the previous fiscal year and its greatest amount of NIH awards since FY2019. Examples of the university’s NIH-funded projects include R&D on DNA nanostructures as siRNA delivery vehicles for Alzheimer’s therapy ( $112,420); and the development of a machine learning prediction model for the detection of Meniere’s Disease from cerumen chemical pofiles ($232,756).
RPI last fiscal year received 20 NIH awards totaling $9,229,127 – its largest amount of funding from the agency since FY2021. Examples of NIH-funded projects included the acquisition of an orbitrap eclipse tribrid mass spectrometer ($1,198,519) that will be shared with researchers throughout the Capital Region; and R&D on a virtual CT workflow for evaluation of artificial intelligence in medical imaging ($615,638).
Last fiscal year, Siena College also received its first NIH award since FY2012. The $309,172 award was for interrogating laboratory-adapted strains of bacillus subtilis to elucidate the selective pressures of laboratory conditions on multicellular bacterial behaviors.
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 the University at Albany, NY Creates’ Albany Nanotech Complex, 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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