News Archive

UAlbany Spinoff Secures New Funding in Bid to Transform Biotechnology
UAlbany’s Professor Scott Tenenbaum, CEO of UAlbany spinoff company sxRNA Technologies, Inc., brought in over $625,000 in new awards to the company in 2025. With the help of this new funding, the company is positioned to advance their technology for applications in medical research, pharmaceutical production and the development of new precision therapeutics.

In Fall Address, President Rodríguez Praises Successes During Difficult Times for Higher Ed
The president noted high points, including alum Omar Yaghi being awarded a Nobel Prize in chemistry, and the University being recertified for the Seal of Excelencia as well as earning an eighth consecutive Higher Education Excellence and Distinction award.

Solving Biotech Pain Points with RNA Switches: Q&A with Doctoral Student Tia Swenty
Doctoral student Tia Swenty shares insights on her path to nanobiotechnology, the problems she is working to solve, and how thoughtful market research can inform the pursuit of science for real-world impact.

UAlbany Chemists Design Candidate Drug Against Diabetes
Researchers from UAlbany and NYU Grossman School of Medicine have found a way to block a key cellular pathway known to drive chronic inflammation and impaired wound healing in people with diabetes. The breakthrough could offer a new therapeutic option for stopping the harmful effects of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes at the source.

UAlbany, VCU to share $6.5M to Launch Muscular Dystrophy Research Center
With this award — one of just six in the nation — UAlbany and VCU will receive $6.5 million over five years to establish the center under the leadership of UAlbany’s Keith Hynes Endowed Professor in STEM Andy Berglund, director of UAlbany’s RNA Institute, and Dr. Nicholas Johnson, director of VCU’s Center for Inherited Muscle Research.

Junior Earns Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service
UAlbany Junior Parmesh Thakoordial was recently named a recipient of the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service, a prestigious national program created by former President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky to support students committed to careers in the public sphere.

UAlbany Alum Omar Yaghi ’85 Shares 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
University at Albany alum Omar M. Yaghi (Chemistry, 1985) has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing the honor with Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University and Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne.

RNA Institute Researchers Receive NIH Funding to Investigate Fatal Genetic Disorder
UAlbany scientists at the RNA Institute are seeking to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive disease. Kaalak Reddy’s team was recently awarded $420,000 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to advance their work on a rare but fatal genetic disorder that affects the heart and brain.