Students at Merrimack College will get upgraded labs and new equipment after the North Andover school secured a $375,000 state grant announced Wednesday, July 23.

The money, awarded through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center's Education and Workforce Development Grant Program, will pay for laboratory equipment, materials, technology, and facility improvements. The grant falls under the center's postsecondary education and training category, which targets programs that connect college students directly to high-demand life science jobs.

The $375,000 award was part of $12.3 million distributed statewide across 68 grants supporting more than 400 public schools, colleges, and nonprofit organizations, according to the Life Sciences Center. Neighboring Haverhill Public Schools received more than $100,000 from the same program: $81,823 in elementary and secondary education grants and $25,164 in out-of-school time grants aimed at providing life sciences programming for students in under-resourced communities.

Eric Paley, Massachusetts Economic Development Secretary and co-chair of the Life Sciences Center board, said the investments are about maintaining the state's edge in biotech. "These investments strengthen the connection between education and industry, ensuring residents across the Commonwealth have the opportunities and resources they need to pursue rewarding careers," Paley said in the grant announcement.

Merrimack, a private Augustinian university that enrolled 5,862 students in fall 2024, offers undergraduate and graduate programs in biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, and data science and public health. The grant targets the kind of hands-on lab infrastructure those programs require to prepare graduates for pharmaceutical and biotech employers concentrated in the Greater Boston region.

No timeline for the lab upgrades has been announced by the college or the Life Sciences Center.