NIH R&D Awards Total $54M in Capital Region
Lab at UAlbany’s RNA Institute. Courtesy UAlbany.
Highlights
- Capital Region NIH R&D awards totaled $54 million in fiscal 2025
- Lowest total funding in more than 34 years
- UAlbany NIH R&D awards at six-year high
- AI powers several NIH-funded research projects
National Institutes of Health funding for research at Capital Region firms and institutions declined to its lowest level in more than three decades in fiscal 2025, even as the area’s largest recipient in NIH grants saw its awards climb to a six-year high, according to a Center for Economic Growth (CEG) analysis of new data from the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT).
In fiscal 2025, the NIH awarded $54 million through 115 research grants in the eight-county Capital Region. When adjusting for inflation (chained 2017 dollars), that represented a 24 percent funding decline from the previous year. That was also the region’s lowest inflation-adjusted NIH grant total on record, with RePORT data going back to 1992.
UAlbany
Despite the regional funding trend, the University at Albany in fiscal 2025 received $14.1 million through 41 NIH awards. When adjusting for inflation, that was a 24.3 percent increase over the previous year and its largest annual funding total since fiscal 2019. At UAlbany, more than three-quarters of the awards listed in RePORT for fiscal 2025 went toward projects headed by researchers associated with the RNA Institute, which is undergoing a $50 million expansion.
“The RNA Institute and UAlbany are committed to supporting New York’s biotech sector, which is an essential partner in research and job creation,” said RNA Institute Director Andrew Berglund. “As a public research university, we are pushing the boundaries of RNA science to develop treatments for serious diseases while training the next generation of scientists. Our graduates go on to work with regional leaders like Regeneron and Curia, launch new biotech startups, or lead new labs making critical new scientific discoveries. Life sciences R&D is a key driver of economic growth in New York State, and our efforts are helping position New York as a leader in AI-driven biomedical innovation.”
Private Firms
Capital Region firms that received more than $1 million in NIH awards included:
- Curia (Albany): $3,049,962
- GE Medical Systems Information Technologies (Niskayuna): $3,316,967
- iPACES (Clifton Park): $1,373,201
- Kitware (Halfmoon): $1,065,333
Other local startups that received smaller awards included:
- Alphamemory (Latham): $252,124
- Care4QL (Albany): $306,817
- sxRNA Technologies (Albany): $307,257
Research Topics
RNA was a dominant research area in the region, especially at UAlbany’s RNA Institute. Other research funded by these awards covers a range of topics, from Lyme Disease to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases to an approach to democratize cancer biobanking. Several grants went toward artificial intelligence-powered R&D projects relating to oral cancer detection and diagnosis, imaging of tissue molecular heterogeneity, back injury prevention, and biosensing and precision therapeutics.
Lab at UAlbany’s RNA Institute. Courtesy UAlbany.
CEG INITIATIVES
The Center for Economic Growth is working to spur and support startup activity, especially in the semiconductors, biotechnology, clean energy, and software development industries. In 2025, with critical financial support from Empire State Development and National Grid, CEG launched the Venture Readiness Program. The program matches entrepreneurs with mentors to provide expert guidance on business model development, financial planning, market validation, and investor pitch preparation. The Venture Readiness Program provides Capital Region startups with access to seed funding from Launch NY.
CEG also offers Business & Tech Acceleration through its Manufacturing Solutions unit, the Capital Region’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center. CEG is also launching a Semiconductor Growth Access (SGAP) Program that aims to broaden the Capital Region’s semiconductor supply chain by providing targeted businesses with funding for legal, financial, business planning and accounting technical assistance.
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