Seed Instrumentation Support (SIS) Program (S10 Clinical Trial Not Allowed): FY 2027 Shared Biomedical Instrument Grant

Seed Instrumentation Support (SIS) Program (S10 Clinical Trial Not Allowed): FY 2027 Shared Biomedical Instrument Grant

The Seed Instrumentation Support (SIS) Program is an NIH S10 grant for an eligible US institution that needs a new shared biomedical research instrument. The current official notice is PAR-27-021, issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP). It is no longer a forecasted opportunity: the notice was posted on June 25, 2026, submissions opened on July 25, 2026, and the first application due date is September 25, 2026.

The program pays for the purchase of one commercially available instrument or one integrated system that is not currently available at the applicant institution. The instrument must create new research capacity, support multiple users, and be placed in a safe shared resource whenever possible. NIH sets a minimum award of $50,000 and a maximum award of $400,000. There is no upper limit on the instrument’s total price, but any amount above the federal maximum must be covered with voluntary institutional funds and documented in the application. S10 awards do not provide indirect costs and are made for one year.

At a glance

The official notice lists three receipt dates for this cycle. Applicants planning to submit against the first date should use September 25, 2026 as the working deadline. The later dates are July 1, 2027 and July 1, 2028. Each application is due by 5:00 PM in the local time of the applicant organization, and the notice advises applicants to submit early enough to correct errors before the applicable deadline.

What SIS funds

SIS is designed to seed a research capability that the institution does not already have. The request must be for a single commercially available biomedical research instrument or an integrated system whose components work together to provide a function no single component can provide. Examples in the notice include mass spectrometers, cell sorters, bioimagers, DNA and protein sequencers, light microscopes, 3D printers, and high-performance computers dedicated solely to biomedical research.

The strongest proposals connect the instrument to new research opportunities and a sustainable user base. The requested system should be shared among research groups, support reproducible data generation, encourage collaboration or training, and help the institution grow its research program. Research-intensive institutions can focus on new or emerging capabilities. Institutions with limited resources can explain how the instrument will build foundational capacity, expand the biomedical workforce, and support a durable research program.

SIS does not fund a general facility refresh. Applications are not responsive when they request research equipment such as autoclaves or hoods, ordinary infrastructure, general-purpose networks or data storage, purely instructional equipment, disposable devices, office furniture, supplies, space alterations, or renovations. Software is only eligible when it is integrated into the instrument’s operation or needed to generate high-quality experimental data from that instrument. Stand-alone workstations, duplicate software, post-processing software, and data-storage licenses are not eligible under the notice.

The instrument type must be new to the applicant institution. The ORIP FAQ says SIS cannot be used to upgrade old equipment or request an instrument type already present at the institution. A substantially new technology may be considered only when the applicant can show that it is a significant breakthrough, is needed to build research capacity, and is required by the users. A core facility at a well-established institution can apply if the requested instrument type is genuinely absent from the institution, even when other research areas already operate shared resources.

Who can apply

The official eligibility section is broader than the earlier forecast summary. Eligible domestic organizations include public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status that are not institutions of higher education; small businesses and other for-profit organizations; state, county, city or township, special district, and eligible tribal governments; eligible federal agencies; US territories or possessions; independent school districts; public or Indian housing authorities; Native American tribal organizations; faith-based or community-based organizations; and regional organizations.

Foreign organizations cannot apply. Non-domestic components of US organizations and foreign components as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement are also not allowed. The applicant should confirm its organizational category and all registrations before preparing the final submission.

The PD/PI must be affiliated with the applicant organization, registered in eRA Commons, and able to provide the scientific and administrative oversight needed for the requested instrument. The PD/PI does not need to hold an active grant. The application must nevertheless identify at least two active NIH-funded users, with at least one based at the applicant institution. NIH training and fellowship awards, non-research awards, SBIR/STTR awards, contracts, and other excluded award types do not satisfy the relevant NIH-funded-user requirement. Active status is assessed on the S10 submission due date.

Clinical trials are not allowed. Human-subjects research that is not an NIH-defined clinical trial may still require the appropriate human-subjects forms and institutional approvals. The SIS FAQ also states that the instrument may not be used for billable clinical care. A proposal centered on patient billing or routine clinical service is therefore not aligned with this opportunity.

What the application must prove

The application should make a clear case for the instrument, the users, and the institution’s ability to operate the resource. The required Instrumentation Plan replaces the ordinary Research Plan form for the core equipment justification. The plan should explain:

• Why the instrument is unavailable at the institution and why the proposed model and features are needed.
• How the purchase will open new research directions, expand capacity, and support the named users’ NIH-funded projects.
• Who will install, operate, maintain, and train users on the equipment.
• Where the instrument will be housed and how access will be scheduled and shared.
• How an Advisory Committee will oversee usage, resolve allocation disputes, and expand the user base.
• How the institution will pay for personnel, service contracts, supplies, operation, and maintenance after the award.

The Research Projects section should describe the users’ projects succinctly and show the instrument’s contribution to each project. Include a summary table with each user’s name, grant number, project title, grant start and end dates, and estimated annual usage hours. State the total estimated usage and the percentage devoted to NIH-funded projects. NIH’s current FAQ emphasizes that only active NIH-funded grants count toward the applicable user or usage requirements at submission.

The administration section should cover the day-to-day management of the instrument, request and scheduling procedures, training, safety, data collection support, and plans for recruiting new users. An Advisory Committee is required. It should include a senior institutional official who represents the financial commitment, as well as non-user members who can help resolve conflicts. The notice recommends a committee of at least four members and does not allow the PD/PI to serve as its chair or as a voting member.

The institutional commitment should be concrete. NIH funds the instrument purchase only. Technical personnel, service contracts, extended warranties, supplies, construction, alterations, renovations, and indirect costs are not allowable charges under the S10 mechanism. If the instrument costs more than $400,000, the application must identify the source of the balance and include a letter from an appropriate institutional official documenting the funds. Voluntary institutional contributions toward the purchase are not required, but any committed amount becomes an award commitment. The institution must also describe how it will sustain the facility and instrument over time.

How to apply

First, verify that the organization has active System for Award Management (SAM) registration, a Unique Entity Identifier, Grants.gov registration, and eRA Commons registration. NIH says these registrations must be complete before submission and that registration can take six weeks or more. The same organization identifier must be used across the registrations and the application. An applicant should involve its sponsored-projects office early, especially if the institution has not recently submitted an NIH application.

Next, obtain the application package through one of the three allowed routes: NIH ASSIST, an institutional system-to-system solution, or Grants.gov Workspace. The institution submits through Grants.gov and then tracks the application in eRA Commons. The applicant must follow the NIH Research Instructions and the PAR-27-021 supplements. The notice specifically requires an Instrumentation Plan and Letters of Support, while the ORIP FAQ requires an itemized vendor quote with academic discounts and warranty terms. The quote must be valid on the application due date.

Build the Instrumentation Plan around the official sections: Justification of Need, Technical Expertise, Research Projects, Administration, Institutional Commitment, and Overall Impact or Benefit. The notice gives page limits of two pages for Justification of Need, one for Technical Expertise, three for Research Projects including the summary table, two for Administration, one for Institutional Commitment, and one for Overall Impact or Benefit. Letters of Support and the Bibliography and References Cited section do not count against those specified limits. A resubmission may also include a one-page Introduction.

Before submission, check that the instrument has not already been purchased, ordered, or placed under a binding purchase commitment. A pre-award purchase order, down payment, or other formal commitment can make the applicant ineligible. Review the quote, user table, institutional letters, safety plans, human-subjects information where applicable, and required registrations together. Submit by 5:00 PM local time on the selected receipt date, then monitor eRA Commons for errors. Corrections must be submitted to Grants.gov by the same deadline; a changed application submitted after the deadline is late.

Official references

• Current opportunity listing
• PAR-27-021 full notice
• NIH ORIP S10 grant application FAQ

The practical test for fit is straightforward: can the applicant show that one commercially available instrument is missing from the institution, that at least two active NIH-funded users need it, and that the institution will operate it as a shared resource after the one-year award? If those points are supported with a specific quote, user table, management plan, and institutional commitments, the application matches the current SIS notice. If the request is for an upgrade, routine facility equipment, clinical billing, or a single investigator’s private use, it does not.