Modern Equipment for Shared-use Biomedical Research Facilities: Advancing Research-Related Operations (R24 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) | PAR 24 028

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 24 028

Modern Equipment for Shared-use Biomedical Research Facilities: Advancing Research-Related Operations (R24 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) is an NIH grant opportunity (PAR-24-028) designed to help institutions modernize the day-to-day operational capabilities of existing shared-use biomedical research facilities. The focus is not on funding new research projects or clinical trials, but on strengthening the support functions that keep research moving efficiently across many labs and users. In practical terms, the program targets shared environments like laboratory core facilities, animal research facilities, and comparable centralized research spaces that provide services, standardized processes, and operational support to multiple investigators.

The core purpose of the award is to pay for modern equipment that improves research-related operations and increases efficiency, reliability, and capacity within these shared facilities. The emphasis is on equipment that enables the facility to function better as a shared resource, such as tools and systems that streamline workflows, improve throughput, standardize or automate routine processes, enhance scheduling or monitoring, improve sample handling logistics, reduce downtime, or otherwise strengthen the facility's operational backbone. The intent is to improve the auxiliary and enabling activities around biomedical research, meaning the infrastructure of operations that supports many research programs rather than a single investigator's scientific aims.

At the same time, the NOFO draws clear boundaries around what it will not support. It explicitly does not fund the purchase of scientific research instruments or their components, so this is not a mechanism for buying the primary instruments used to generate experimental data (or upgrading those instruments). It also does not support components of building-level infrastructure that only indirectly support research activities. In other words, it is meant for facility-level operational equipment that directly modernizes shared-use research-supporting operations, not for large-scale building systems or general construction-related infrastructure, and not for the core scientific instruments that would normally be justified as direct research equipment.

The funding mechanism is an R24 grant, and the opportunity is categorized as discretionary and within the NIH health funding area (CFDA 93.351 and 93.859). The listed award ceiling is $350,000. The original closing date provided in the source information is 2023-11-15, and the opportunity was created on 2023-10-12. While the notice references expected awards, that specific number is not provided in the supplied source data.

Eligibility is broad and includes a wide range of U.S.-based organizations and governmental entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other entities as allowed by NIH policy for this program. The NOFO also highlights additional eligible categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions.

Foreign involvement is tightly restricted. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply. Non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. In addition, foreign components, as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed. This keeps the activity and the supported equipment squarely within allowable U.S.-based institutional and facility contexts.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as a targeted modernization program for shared biomedical research facilities: it supports equipment that improves operational performance and shared-service efficiency, while excluding purchases that are primarily scientific instrumentation for conducting experiments or that function as general building infrastructure.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Modern Equipment for Shared-use Biomedical Research Facilities: Advancing Research-Related Operations (R24 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.351, 93.859.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-10-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-11-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $350,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

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