Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) Program (S10 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PAR-24-265

The objective of the Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) 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), equipment 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 general-purpose 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) for questions about appropriate types of instruments, 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 is expected to 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.4 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.4.

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.

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 $750,000. Since the cost of each instrument varies, it is anticipated that the amount of the award will also vary. S10 awards do not allow indirect costs.

Not Required

June 02, 2025

Xiang-Ning Li, M.D., Ph.D.
Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP)
Telephone: 301-435-0777
Email: xiang-ning.li@nih.gov 

 

Rene Etcheberrigaray, M.D.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Phone: 301-451-9798
Email: rene.etcheberrigaray@nih.gov

Tony Douglas Gover
NEI - NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
Phone: 301-529-7370
E-mail: tony.gover@nih.gov