To:                  Perelman School of Medicine Faculty
From:             Yale Cohen, Assistant Dean of Research Facilities and Resources
Re:                  NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant and High End Instrumentation Grant Programs (S10)
                        PAR-22-080: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-22-080.html
                        PAR-22-079: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-22-079.html

I write to share with you a terrific opportunity available through the NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant Program (S10). The NIH Shared Instrument Grant (SIG) and High-End Instrumentation Grant (HEI) programs encourage applications from groups of NIH-supported investigators to purchase or upgrade a single item of expensive, specialized, commercially available instrument or integrated system. The award range differs by program; the SIG program is for equipment costing $50,000 to $600,000, and the HEI for equipment costing $600,001 to $2,000,000. Types of instruments supported include, but are not limited to: X-ray diffraction systems, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometers, DNA and protein sequencers, biosensors, electron and confocal microscopes, cell-sorters, and biomedical imagers. Faculty considering submitting a request at the junctional, $600,000 level should apply to the HEI program.

There is no limit on the number of applications an institution may submit provided the requests are for different types of equipment; however, if two or more applications are submitted for similar equipment (e.g., two NMR spectrometers) from the same institution, documentation from the institution must be provided stating that this is not an unintended duplication, but part of a campus-wide institutional plan.

We are also sharing the attached S10 submission guide that provides some tips and examples for putting together a proposal. 

In order to coordinate duplicate requests at the School level, we are asking that all SIG and HEI applicants first submit a brief Letter of Intent (LOI) to April Weakley at aweakley@pennmedicine.upenn.edu, co-signed by the faculty member’s Department Chair. We will coordinate the response with the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) to determine if the duplication is justified and if so, we will provide a letter of support per the NIH guidelines.
 

Your letter of intent should be submitted by April 14, 2023 and include:  
 

• Type of instrument
• Name of vendor
• Estimated instrument cost
• A brief description of the instrument's programmatic use
• Name of the Principal Investigator (PI) and at least three NIH funded PIs who will form a Major User Group.
• Intended physical location of the requested equipment, including department, building and floor

If you have any questions regarding the application, please contact April Weakley at aweakley@pennmedicine.upenn.edu. The NIH application due date is June 1, 2023.

Thank you for your consideration.