External Deadline: June 2026 Internal Deadline: March 2, 2026
Instructions for electronic submission: To apply for this S10 opportunity, please submit the materials requested below to this link no later than March 2, 2026, at 11:59 PM.
Investigators interested in responding to this call for proposals are encouraged to work in close collaboration with the relevant WCM Core Facilities to bring in new instruments as shared resources whenever possible, as the success of these proposals is often dependent on demonstrating a strong and stable institutional infrastructure. If you need help identifying the appropriate Core Director(s), please reach out to Dr. Florencia Marcucci (flm4001@med.cornell.edu) and Mohammad Ali Mansour (mom2029@med.cornell.edu).
S10 Instrumentation Grant Programs support purchases of state-of-the-art commercially available instruments to enhance research of NIH–funded investigators. Instruments that are awarded are typically too expensive to be obtained by an individual investigator with a research project grant. Every instrument awarded by an S10 grant is used on a shared basis, which makes the programs cost-efficient and beneficial to thousands of investigators in hundreds of institutions nationwide. Multiple PDs/PIs are not allowed under the S10 mechanism. Awards are issued for one year; no indirect costs are allowed.
The SIG Program provides funds to purchase or upgrade a single item of expensive, 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 could provide. The components must be dedicated to the system and not used independently. This announcement can be found under Funding Opportunity Announcement PAR-24-265.
The requested commercially available instrument or integrated system should costs at least $50,000. The maximum award is $7500,000. Since the cost of the various instruments will vary, it is anticipated that the size of the award also will vary.
Please note this announcement complements a recently released FOA (PAR-24-264) for the High-End Instrumentation Grant Program (HEI), which supports the acquisition of shared equipment with costs between $750,001 to $2,000,000. An internal WCM review of HEI proposals will also be conducted.
Types of instruments supported include but are not limited to:
- electron and light microscopes
- mass and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers
- protein and DNA sequencers
- biosensors
- cell sorters
- biomedical imagers
Applications for "stand alone" computer systems (supercomputers, computer clusters and storage systems) will only be considered if the instrument is solely dedicated to the research needs of a broad community of NIH-supported investigators.
The SIG Program will not support requests for:
- an instrument with a base cost of less than $50,000;
- multiple instruments bundled together or a series of complementary related instruments;
- software, unless it is integral to the operation of a piece of equipment;
- purely instructional equipment, institutional administrative management systems, clinical management systems;
- instruments used for clinical (billable) care;
- general purpose equipment or an assortment of instruments to furnish a research facility and equipment for routine sustaining infrastructure (such as, standard machine shop equipment, standard computer networks, autoclaves, hoods and equipment to upgrade animal facilities).
Instruments must be for research purposes only.
For complete program announcement details please visit: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-24-265.html
Eligibility
- Instruments requested through the S10 mechanisms must be placed within a relevant core facility.
- S10 proposals involving Chinese vendors will not be supported at this time.
- The PD/PI chosen for this application should have documented (in the biographical sketch) technical expertise directly related to the type of the chosen instrument.
- The PD/PI does not need to have an NIH research grant or any other research support but is expected to be an expert on the requested instrument.
- The PD/PI may be a Core director or non-tenured faculty member of the applicant organization, must be affiliated with the applicant organization, and must be registered on eRA Commons.
- Multiple PDs/PIs are not allowed under the S10 mechanism.
- Additional criteria are listed here: PAR-24-265
Application Requirements
Multiple applications for similar or identical instruments are not allowed to be submitted by the same institution. In order to avoid duplicate instruments being requested, WCM investigators interested in applying to any of the S10 programs must submit an internal proposal using the following naming convention PI last name-first initial_SIG-2026.pdf (see example below) by March 2, 2026 at 11:59 PM.
Example: Smith-J_SIG-2026.pdf
Should similar or identical instruments be proposed, additional information may be requested in order to make the final selection.
Internal Selection Materials:
- Letter of nomination from the Department Chair/Division Head, describing the appropriate level of support for associated infrastructure. Note: For Core Directors interested in the S10 programs, a letter of nomination from their Dept Chair/Div Head is not required. A brief cover letter (no more than 1 pg. long) written by the Core Director describing the support for the requested infrastructure is sufficient.
- All Letters of nomination/support must indicate the projected level of institutional commitment.
- Summary describing the requested instrument by stating its manufacturer, model number, specific features, and accessories (1 page max.)
- Justification of need: Compare the performance of the requested model with other similar instruments available on the market. Justify the need for specific features and special accessories of the requested instrument. Each such feature or accessory must be utilized by at least three Major Users (1-page max.)
- Administration of the instrument: Describe in which core the instrument will be located, how it will be utilized, how requests to use the instrument will be made, how time will be allocated among Major and Other Users, and how other projects and new users will be enlisted (1-page max.)
- Business Plan: Submit a specific financial plan for the installation and long-term operation and maintenance of the instrument as such costs are not supported by the S10 Program. Explain how various operational costs will be met; specifically, costs associated with routine operation and maintenance of the instrument and costs for support staff. Enumerate the sources of income such as charge-back fee structure, grants, or institutional support. The financial plan must include a table for years 1-5 of operation (1-page max.)
- Applicant's Biosketch. Please include a description of the applicant's technical expertise related to the instrument requested (this is a requirement of the opportunities and will be used to evaluate the internal candidate).
Submit the above materials here no later than March 2, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Past Recipients
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