We’ve reissued two notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) for our Technology Development Programs:

Technology Development Research for Establishing Feasibility and Proof of Concept (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) PAR-25-202

This NOFO solicits R21 applications with innovative, high-risk concepts for developing new technologies or radically improving existing ones. It supports novel concepts that haven’t been tested for feasibility. Because inclusion of unpublished or preliminary data isn’t allowed under this NOFO, NIGMS expects the proposed projects to be high risk.  

New with this NOFO, applications must include an attachment from the program director/principal investigator confirming the following:

• The proposed project focuses solely on new technology development, ideas, or concepts.
• The project does not include biomedical aims or tests of biological hypotheses.
• The application does not include published or unpublished data that support feasibility of the project aims.
• The application does not propose repurposing of existing technologies from other research areas.

The goal of requiring this attachment is to reduce application withdrawals due to nonresponsiveness to the NOFO.

First application receipt date: February 16, 2025

Focused Technology Research and Development (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) PAR-25-203

This NOFO solicits R01 applications for projects to validate and optimize new technologies. It supports projects for technologies that demonstrate feasibility but require additional development to produce useful prototypes.

First application receipt date: February 5, 2025 

Both NOFOs target technology areas that include, but are not limited to, instrumentation, devices, processes, algorithms, software, chemical and synthetic biology, or cell engineering. Applications shouldn’t include use of developed technologies to address new biological questions. The research plan should be rigorous with well-defined project objectives.

Neither NOFO supports testing of new biological questions, but we encourage validation with well-characterized models or gold-standard biological samples. Applications supporting technologies that are sufficiently advanced to address untested biological hypotheses should be submitted to the parent NIH R01 NOFO.

For more information about these programs, see the NIGMS Technology Development webpage. If you have any  questions about these funding opportunities, please email NIGMS_TechDev@nigms.nih.gov. Applicants are highly encouraged to discuss their projects with an NIGMS program officer prior to preparing and submitting an application.