Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: June 2, 2025 (New, Renewal, Resubmission, Revision) | June 1, 2026 | June 1, 2027
Funding Amounts: $750,001 minimum; up to $2,000,000 for a single high-end instrument; one-year award period.
Summary: Supports NIH-funded groups to purchase or upgrade a single high-end, specialized, commercially available instrument or integrated system for biomedical research.
Key Information: Updated March 31, 2025: Carefully review the full announcement for recent changes and agency priorities.
Description
This program provides funding for the purchase or upgrade of a single high-end, specialized, commercially available instrument or integrated system to support NIH-funded research. The goal is to make advanced research instrumentation available to groups of NIH-supported investigators, enabling cutting-edge basic, translational, and clinical biomedical or biobehavioral research that would not be possible otherwise. Supported instruments include, but are not limited to, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, X-ray diffractometers, mass spectrometers, high-throughput robotic screening systems, DNA and protein sequencers, biosensors, electron and light microscopes, flow cytometers, and biomedical imagers.
The program is administered by the NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP), with participation from NIBIB and NIGMS. Instruments must be dedicated to biomedical research and justified on a shared-use basis.
Due Dates
- June 2, 2025: New, renewal, resubmission, and revision applications due (by 5:00 PM local time).
- June 1, 2026: Next application cycle.
- June 1, 2027: Final application cycle before expiration.
- No letter of intent is required.
Applicants are encouraged to apply early to allow time for corrections.
Funding Amount
- Minimum request: $750,001
- Maximum request: $2,000,000 (no maximum instrument price, but NIH will not award more than $2M)
- Award period: One year (non-renewable)
- Indirect costs: Not allowed
- Cost sharing: Not required, but voluntary institutional support is expected for maintenance and operation
Eligibility
Eligible Organizations
- Public and private institutions of higher education (U.S. only)
- Nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education)
- Certain minority-serving institutions (e.g., HBCUs, Hispanic-serving, AANAPISIs, TCCUs)
- Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions
Not eligible:
- Non-U.S. (foreign) organizations
- Non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations
- Foreign components as defined by NIH policy
Eligible Individuals
- Any individual with the skills, knowledge, and resources to carry out the project as PD/PI
- PD/PI must have technical expertise related to the requested instrument
- Must be affiliated with the applicant organization and registered in eRA Commons
- Multiple PDs/PIs are not allowed
Major User Group
- At least three Major Users, each with a distinct active NIH research award (grant or cooperative agreement) in basic, translational, or clinical research
- Major Users can be from the same or different departments, or from nearby/regional institutions
- Additional users with NIH or other research funding may be included
Application Process
- Applications must be submitted electronically via NIH ASSIST, Grants.gov Workspace, or an institutional system-to-system solution.
- Follow the NIH How to Apply - Application Guide and all program-specific instructions in the funding announcement.
- Instrumentation Plan (uploaded as a single PDF) must include:
- Justification of Need (6 pages)
- Technical Expertise (2 pages)
- Research Projects (up to 20 pages)
- Summary Tables (6 pages)
- Administration/Management Plan (6 pages)
- Institutional Commitment (3 pages)
- Overall Impact/Benefit (3 pages)
- Vendor quote with academic discounts and warranty terms is required.
- Letters of Support (combined into a single file) must include institutional commitment and, if applicable, biosafety documentation.
- No letter of intent is required.
- No indirect costs or support for personnel, service contracts, or supplies.
- Award is for instrument purchase only.
Additional Information
- Only one type of instrument per application; bundled requests are not allowed.
- Instruments must be commercially available and have a manufacturer’s warranty.
- Instruments must be dedicated to biomedical research (not for clinical care or instruction, except under rare Special Use Instrument circumstances).
- The instrument should be housed in a core facility whenever possible to maximize sharing.
- An Advisory Committee must oversee instrument use and management.
- Annual usage reports and a final performance report are required post-award.
- For Special Use Instrument (SUI) requests (rare), consult NIH staff before applying.
External Links
Contact Information