CALL FOR PROPOSALS: NIH Shared Instrumentation for Animal Research (SIFAR) Grant Program (S10)

The Shared Instrumentation for Animal Research (SIFAR) Grant Program encourages applications from groups of NIH-funded investigators to purchase or upgrade scientific instruments necessary to carry out experiments using any vertebrate and invertebrate animal species in all areas of biomedical research supported by the NIH. Applicants may request clusters of commercially available instruments configured as specialized integrated systems or as series of instruments to support a thematic workflow in a well-defined area of research using animals or related materials. Priority will be given to specialized clusters of instruments and to uniquely configured systems to support innovative and potentially transformative investigations. It is expected that the use of the awarded instruments will enhance the scientific rigor of animal research and improve the reproducibility of experimental outcomes. Requests for a single instrument will be considered only if the instrument is to be placed in a barrier facility.

In general, concurrent SIFAR, SIG (PAR-17-074) and/or HEI (PAR-17-076) applications for the same instruments (or the same type of instrument with added special accessories to meet the HEI budget requirement or the same instrument which is a part of a SIFAR cluster) are not allowed.

One item of the requested instrumentation must cost at least $50,000. No instrument in a cluster can cost less than $20,000. There is no maximum price requirement; however, the maximum award is $750,000.

UCI may submit only one application in response to this call, therefore interested applicants should submit the following application packet to the Office of Research by February 10, 2017 (via the UCI Review application system):

  • Project Summary (up to 3 pages), describing the requested instrumentation, its application and configuration. Please be sure to include the following:
    • Outline how the instrumentation will advance animal research at UCI.
    • Justify need for the requested equipment, particularly if similar equipment is currently available at UCI.
    • When discussing configuration, if the new equipment is to be integrated into a workflow with current capacities, please describe.
    • If a single instrument, please describe how it will benefit “behind-the-barrier animal research” that cannot be otherwise accomplished.
  • Plan for ongoing Operation and Maintenance of the equipment (1-page)
  • NIH-Style bio sketches for the minimum required 3 major users (please review the guidelines for what constitutes a “major user”). For this internal review process, other major users and identified minor users may be listed simply by name, title and department.
  • Support letter from the Dean (or the equivalent in units without a Dean).

If necessary, an ad hoc committee will be convened to review the preliminary proposals. The selected PI(s) will be notified in ample time to meet the NIH deadline of May 31, 2017.

For the complete guidelines, including detailed information about the SIFAR Program, please refer to https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-17-075.html. Questions about our internal campus review process may be directed to Greg Ruth at greg.ruth@uci.edu or x4-0372.

 

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