Slots: There is no restriction on the number of applications an institution (as identified by a specific UEI number) can submit to the SIG and/or High-End Instrumentation (HEI) Programs each year, provided the applications request different types of equipment. However, only one application to the Basic Instrumentation Grant (BIG) Program is allowed per receipt date. Concurrent SIG, HEI or BIG applications for the same instrument (or the same type of instrument with added special accessories – for example, to meet the HEI budget requirement) are not allowed unless documentation from a high-level institutional official is provided, stating that this is not an unintended duplication, but part of a campus-wide instrumentation plan. Applicants are advised to discuss with the SIG Scientific/Research Contact (Section VII) potential duplicates before submitting two applications for the same type of instrument.
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: TBA
LOI: N/A
External Deadline: June 1, 2023
Recurring Deadlines: June 3, 2024
Award Information
Award Type: Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: The number of awards is contingent upon NIH appropriations and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications.
Anticipated Award Amount:
Applications will be accepted that request a single, commercially available instrument or an integrated instrumentation system. The minimum award is $50,000. There is no upper limit on the cost of the instrument, but the maximum award is $600,000. Since the cost of various instruments will vary, it is anticipated that the amount of the award will also vary. S10 awards do not allow indirect costs.
It is expected that applicants will employ the most economical approaches, including securing academic discounts, to formulate a cost-effective budget while meeting users’ scientific needs.See Section IV. 6. Funding Restrictions Funding Restrictions for additional details.
Who May Serve as PI:
The PD/PI should document (in the biographical sketch) technical expertise directly related to the type of requested instrument. The PD/PI does not need to have an NIH research grant or any other research support but is expected to be an expert on the requested instrument. The PD/PI may be a core director, tenured, or non-tenured faculty member of the applicant organization. The PD/PI must be affiliated with the applicant organization and must be registered on eRA Commons.
Multiple PDs/PIs are not allowed under the S10 mechanism.
Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-22-081.html
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Office of Research Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/.
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Single Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 1-page limit will be excluded from review.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs and Co-PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
The purpose of this funding opportunity is to continue the Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) Program administered by ORIP. The objective of the Program is to make available to institutions high-priced research instruments that can only be justified on a shared-use basis and that are needed for NIH-supported projects in basic, translational, or clinical biomedical and biobehavioral research. The SIG Program provides funds to purchase or upgrade a single item of expensive, state-of-the-art, specialized, commercially available instrument or an integrated instrumentation system. An integrated instrumentation system is one in which the components, when used in conjunction with one another, perform a function that no single component can provide. The components must be dedicated to the system and not used independently.
Types of supported instruments include, but are not limited to: X-ray diffractometers, mass spectrometers, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers, DNA and protein sequencers, biosensors, electron and light microscopes, flow cytometers, high throughput robotic screening systems, and biomedical imagers. Applications for standalone computer systems (supercomputers, computer clusters and data storage systems) will only be considered if the system is solely dedicated to biomedical research.
All instruments, integrated systems, and computer systems must be dedicated to research only.
Foreign-made instruments are allowed.
The SIG Program will not support requests for:
- An instrument with a base cost of less than $50,000;
- Multiple instruments bundled together;
- Purely instructional equipment;
- Instruments used for clinical (billable) care;
- Instruments or integrated systems that are not commercially available and do not have a manufacturer warranty
- Institutional administrative management systems, clinical management systems;
- Software, unless it is integrated in the operation of the instrument and/or necessary for generation of high-quality experimental data from the instrument;
- Multiple stand-alone workstations for data processing, software licenses, and duplicate software items;
- General purpose equipment (such as standard machine shop equipment), instruments to furnish a research facility (such as autoclaves, hoods, equipment to upgrade animal facilities), equipment for routine sustaining infrastructure (such as standard computer networks or data storage systems);
- Disposable devices, office furniture, and supplies;
- Alteration or renovation of space to house the instruments.
Applicants are advised to discuss with the SIG Scientific/Research Contact (See Section VII) any questions about appropriate types of equipment, eligibility, and Program requirements, prior to submitting an application for an integrated instrumentation system.
To promote cost effectiveness, to encourage optimal sharing among individual investigators, research groups and departments, and to foster a collaborative multidisciplinary environment, the instrument should be integrated in a core facility or another shared resource, whenever possible.
Each applicant institution must propose a Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) who can assume administrative and scientific oversight responsibility for the requested instrument. See Section III.1 for qualifications for the PD/PI. The PD/PI also will be responsible for:
- Requesting no-cost extensions of the project period, if needed.
- Preparing (and working with the institution to submit) a Final Research Performance Progress Report (Final RPPR) at the end of the project period. See Section VI.3 for the content of a Final RPPR;
- Preparing and submitting Annual Usage Reports (AURs) of the instrument to the NIH for a period of four years after the project end date, see Section VI.3.
An Advisory Committee must be named to assist the PD/PI in administering the grant and overseeing the usage of the instrument. For details on the composition of the Advisory Committee, see Section IV.2 under “Administration.” The PD/PI and the Advisory Committee are responsible for the development of guidelines for:
- Maximum utilization of the instrument, including time allocation.
- A detailed plan for the day-to-day management and safe operation of the instrument.
- A plan to ensure that access to the instrument is limited to users whose projects have received approval from the Institutional Review Board, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee or a Biosafety Committee, as applicable.
- A financial plan for the long-term operation and maintenance of the instrument during the post-award period.
- A relocation of the instrument within or outside the institution or change(s) of ownership, if such changes are necessary.
- Recommending a new PD/PI, if such a need arises.
The PD/PI and the Advisory Committee should convene meetings and issue annual reports on the instrument status, including their recommendations for the instrument operations.
NIGMS is interested in co-funding S10 applications that include research projects aligned with the mission of NIGMS. NIGMS-supported research may utilize specific cells or organ systems if they serve as models for understanding general systemic principles. NIGMS also supports research in specific clinical areas that affect multiple organ systems.
In parallel, NIGMS is especially interested in promoting participation of Institutional Development Award (IDeA) states and programs in the S10 Program. The IDeA program will provide co-funding for scientifically meritorious applications from IDeA states and encourages sharing and collaboration among institutions, programs, and states.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.