FEDERAL BIOTECH/MEDICAL RESEARCH GRANTS SETS RECORD
BYLINE: US States News
DATELINE: ALBANY, N.Y.
The New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research issued the following news release:
Michael J. Relyea, Executive Director of the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), today announced that New York's colleges, universities, medical research centers, and biotechnology companies were awarded a record $2.02 billion in funding in 2005 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), beating the previous record of $1.95 billion set in 2004.
"Governor Pataki and the Legislature have made a solid commitment to help the State remain a world leader in biotechnology innovations and initiatives," said Executive Director Relyea. "The record surge of new funding to our world-class universities, medical research centers and biotech companies will spur development of important new biotechnology discoveries that in turn will foster the creation of new jobs for New Yorkers."
More than 200 academic institutions, not-for-profit research centers, and life science companies in every region in New York participated in NIH sponsored research in 2005, and these organizations received a total of nearly 4,900 life science-related research grants.
Ten Largest NIH Award Winners in NYS
Table omitted; the document can be found at the URL - http://www.nystar.state.ny.us/pr/06/press44-06.htm
New York State tied two other states in leading the nation in top 100 medical institutions receiving NIH funding. According to the study, ten New York medical universities received funding, as well as ten in California and Massachusetts.
New York had 10 institutions ranked among the top 100 in terms of receiving grants: Columbia University, Cornell University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the University of Rochester, Yeshiva University, New York University, Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, The Rockefeller University, SUNY Stony Brook and SUNY Buffalo.
NIH, one of the world's foremost medical research centers and the Federal focal point for medical research in the U.S., is comprised of 27 separate institutes and centers. The goal of NIH research is to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability, from rare genetic disorders to the common cold.
The record-setting NIH funding comes after a report by Business Facilities Magazine, a leading business publication for companies seeking to expand or relocate their companies, which ranked New York first in the nation in the development of its biotechnology industry and called New York one of the best locations for growing a biotechnology business.
The State's high ranking in the important industry magazine showcases the State's continuing and successful efforts to promote high-tech, biotech and small tech research and economic development. The fast-growing biotechnology industry is helping to create new jobs and spur significant economic growth and opportunity in New York.
The magazine report was just one of the many independent indicators that New York is moving ahead quickly as an internationally respected place for biotechnology research.
Recently, seven New York universities won a total of $139 million in Federal research funding related to the launch of a national consortium that will transform how clinical and translational research is conducted, ultimately enabling researchers to provide new treatments more efficiently and quickly to patients.
Governor Pataki and the Legislature have advanced several major initiatives to expand high technology and biotechnology business and job-creation opportunities in New York. The Governor's Centers of Excellence initiative, along with Strategically Targeted Academic Research Centers and Advanced Research Centers, focus on critical emerging technologies that are expected to become major high-tech growth areas. Each Center is designed to complement other specialized academic centers in a seamless network of high-tech research and economic development.
Since 1995, the State has fostered the growth of New York's high-tech and biotech industries by supporting the investment of more than $1 billion in the State's technology business sector and its world-class research laboratories and academic centers.