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

The objective of the Shared Instrument 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. 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.

Application Instructions

An internal application process is required to verify that each equipment request from our institution is unique. Faculty who intend to submit an equipment request must email the following information:

- PI Name

- Instrument requested

- Total direct costs

- Short justification of what the instrument will be used for

- A list of potential users

 to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

Additionally, our office will provide the RFA-required letter of support with a table that includes information about performance of all previous S10-awarded instruments within the past five years and other required data. See Attachments, Section II) Letters of Support.