UCR last received an S10 award in FY2022.
Institutions that are not major recipients of NIH research
funding are especially encouraged to apply. Often such institutions are in
Institutional Development Award (IDeA)-eligible
states or from areas that populational, geographic, and regional diversity in
biomedical research could be substantively benefited from scientific instrument
support. The main objective of the BIG Program is to make available modern
scientific instruments that are needed by NIH-funded investigators and other
groups of biomedical scientists to advance their research and to broaden access
to modern technologies at academic and research institutions nationwide.
Typically, state-of-the-art technologies that are indispensable for today’s
research are too costly for a single investigator to purchase or operate. Their
acquisitions can only be justified on a shared-use basis.
The BIG Program supports acquisitions of scientific
instruments that are justified by investigators needs to pursue their
scientific projects in basic, translational, or clinical fields. The program
requires that three Major Users with NIH-funded research projects demonstrate
significant need for the requested instrument. Once the requirement of three
Major Users with NIH research funding has been met, additional users may be
included see Section III.3. Additional Information on Eligibility for the Major
User Group requirement. It is expected that the instrument, by augmenting
institutional research capabilities, will invigorate current research,
contribute to opportunities for novel research projects, stimulate new
collaborations, and increase overall research competitiveness. Moreover, a
broader research community at the applicant or regional institution(s) should
benefit from access to the instrument.
The BIG Program provides funds to purchase a single piece of
new, costly, 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 instruments supported include, but
are not limited to, basic cell sorters, confocal microscopes, ultramicrotomes,
gel imagers, or computer systems. 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 BIG Program will not support requests for:
- An instrument with a base cost of less than $25,000;
Multiple instruments bundled together;
Purely instructional equipment;
Instruments used for clinical (billable) care;
Instruments 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.
To promote cost-effectiveness, to encourage optimal sharing
among individual investigators, research groups and departments, and to foster
a collaborative multidisciplinary environment, the instrument must be
integrated in a core facility, other shared resource, or a shared laboratory
space. Awards are for instrument from $25,000-350,000
Cost sharing: The NOFO does not require cost sharing.
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