Funding-NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant Program and UK VPR request for information; February 19, 2010

The NIH National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) has announced the Shared Instrumentation Grant program for major research equipment costing between $100,000 and $600,000. NCRR intends to commit approximately $43 million in FY2011 to fund approximately 125 new awards. The NIH deadline is March 23, 2010.

Complete Program Announcement: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-082.htm

The guidelines require a letter of institutional commitment, including a description of the infrastructure to support the instrumentation as well as the financial resources specifically dedicated to the equipment. NCRR does not limit the number of applications, but if two or more proposals request similar equipment, the Office of the Vice President for Research must address these requests in the letter of institutional commitment (e.g., as indicated in the guidelines, “state that this is not an unintended duplication but part of a campus wide institutional plan”).

Researchers interested in submitting a proposal to the Shared Instrumentation Grant program are asked to submit the following information electronically to the Office of the Vice President for Research at vpr@email.uky.edu and a copy to their Associate Dean for Research by Friday, February 19, 2010:

· Name and department of PI

· Instrument requested and approximate cost

· Proposed user group (a minimum of 3 NIH-funded investigators are required)

· If the instrument is intended to be part of an existing service core (recharge center), identify which one; if a new recharge center is being proposed, provide proposed name and location

· If instrument is not intended to be part of a recharge center, delineate the departmental/center/institute and college plans for instrument support in terms of personnel and service costs

Questions about the submission process may be sent to Ms. Annette Evans in the Office of the Vice President for Research (alevan4@email.uky.edu or 257-1663.) To identify potential NIH-funded investigators, researchers may contact the Proposal Development Office (proposal@email.uky.edu) or search SPIFi, the database of UK funded projects (http://www.research.uky.edu/aspnet/vsprojects/spifi/search.aspx