This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) supports exploratory research leading to the development of innovative technologies for biomedical research that is relevant to the NIGMS mission or that of other NIH Institutes or Centers (ICs) participating in this FOA. Projects should entail a high degree of risk and/or novelty, which will be offset by a high future potential impact in biomedical research. Outcomes or products of the proposed project, which should significantly advance the current state of the art, may include, but are not limited to:
- laboratory instruments and other devices,
- algorithms and software,
- chemical reagents and processes,
- biological molecules or systems that have been modified by human intervention to become research tools.
The goal of this FOA is to support proof of concept, high-risk and potentially high-reward studies for feasibility and exploratory technology development. Due to the constraints that would be imposed on broad utility, this FOA does not support technology development that is narrowly focused on addressing specific biological questions. Rather, applications should propose development of innovative tools that can potentially benefit a broad spectrum of biomedical research. Moreover, feasibility of the proposed technology must not have already been established in the literature or with preliminary data. Applications that are focused on technology development to address specific biological questions and/or include unpublished or published data that provide proof of concept are not responsive to this FOA and will be administratively withdrawn without review.