New York Fund for Innovation in Research and Scientific Talent - NYFIRST
New York Fund for Innovation in Research and Scientific Talent (NYFIRST) supports medical schools in recruiting and retaining life science researchers to advance translational research and commercialization.
Funder: New York Fund for Innovation in Research and Scientific Talent (NYFIRST)
Due Dates: July 15, 2026 (Round 7 opens) | July 16, 2027, 5:00 p.m. ET (Round 7 closes; rolling review)
Funding Amounts: Up to $1 million per project over four years; $2 match required per $1 awarded
Summary: Supports New York medical schools recruiting or retaining exceptional life science investigators to advance translational research and commercialization.
Key Information: Investigators must be recruited from outside New York State or have a verifiable out-of-state offer that would lead them to leave.
Description
NYFIRST is an Empire State Development (ESD) grant program that helps New York State medical schools recruit and retain exceptional life science researchers. It supports translational research that turns biological knowledge into tools and techniques for treating human disease, with an innovative response to an unmet clinical and market need and a clear path to commercialization. No therapeutic area is excluded.
Awards support laboratory establishment or upgrades, capital equipment, specialized research supplies, and essential research staff—not the principal investigator’s own costs. The program seeks to expand medical schools’ research capabilities while generating economic benefits in New York, including commercialized technologies, permanent life science jobs, patentable discoveries, licensing, and increased federal, philanthropic, and venture capital funding.
