Technology Development Research for Establishing Feasibility and Proof of Concept (R21 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Funding Agency:
- National Institutes of Health
Companion Opportunity: PAR-22-127: Focused Technology Research and Development (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Applications to this FOA should propose technology development at a conceptual stage, not yet supported by any proof-of-concept-data, in order to demonsetrate feasibility of the proposed technology and/or establish the most likely path to successful development. When compared to current state-of-the-art technology, the proposed concept should lead to a technological breakthrough, or a significant advance in current biomedical research or approaches. The project’s starting point should be the current state of knowledge and concepts must not have been tested for feasibility. Project aims should focus on either: (a) exploratory research to identify, among several possibilities, the approach with the highest likelihood of success, or (b) demonstrating feasibility of a specific novel approach.
For this FOA, technology refers to tools, methods and techniques that enable a broad spectrum of biomedical research that falls within the NIGMS mission or in that of the ICs participating in this FOA including, but not limited to:
- laboratory instruments and other devices,
- algorithms and software,
- chemical reagents and processes,
- biological molecules or systems that have been modified by human intervention to become research tools.
Further, this FOA calls for innovative exploratory technology development predicated on an explicitly described broad need or challenge in biomedical research. This need should exceed current technological capability, with the state-of-the-art technological performance defining the starting point. Comparison of the proposed technical performance improvement to the state of the art will provide the rationale for developing a fundamentally different technology. Specific well-characterized test systems may be used for validation, but applications should highlight the broad utility of the technology for biomedical research. Applications that include investigation of specific biological questions in the time frame of the proposed project are considered nonresponsive to this FOA and will be administratively withdrawn without review.
Application budgets are limited to a total of $275,000 Direct Costs over the two-year project period. No more than $200,000 Direct Costs may be requested in any single year. (Direct cost limits exclude consortium F&A costs.) The budget must be well justified and reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.
June 16, 2022; October 16, 2022
Fei Wang, Ph.D., Division of Biophysics, Biomedical Technology and Computational Biosciences, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Email: wangf@mail.nih.gov