• Hospitals, universities and other universities can use the NIH's shared equipment grant to help buy expensive laboratory equipment.microscope image by ivan gusev from Fotolia.com
  
  The National Institutes of Health, an affiliate of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the federal government's medical research agency. Along with serving as a medical leader for the country, the NIH provides funding through grants and other programs to help researchers stay at the front of the scientific world. The Shared Instrumentation Grant program, for example, awards between $100,000 and $500,000 for researchers to buy the expensive equipment they need. Grantees receive the money with the understanding they will share the new equipment among at least three NIH scientists.
  
  

Shared Instrumentation Grant Program

• The National Institutes of Health's National Center for Research Resources awards Shared Instrumentation Grants to help researchers buy equipment costing at least $100,000. The NIH awards the grants through a single program, but the money can go toward several types of research equipment. Grants have previously paid for devices such as electron microscopes, imagers, DNA sequencers and cell sorters.
  
  Shared Instrumentation Grant Program
  
  Division of Biomedical Technology National Center for Research Resources
  
  National Institutes of Health
  
  6701 Democracy Boulevard, Room 958
  
  Bethesda, MD 20892
  
  301-435-0772
  
  ncrr.nih.gov
  
  

Funding

• The NCRR allotted $43 million for fiscal year 2010 for the share equipment grant program. The center expected to give out 125 of the grants, which range between $100,000 and $500,000.
  
  

Eligibility

• The grant is open to any higher education institution or nonprofit. Applicants must identify three major investors, who will be the primary users of the shared equipment. If single institutions want to send multiple applications for the same equipment--such as a university's colleges applying for the same instruments to share--the administration must explain the reason for the multiple applications. The program rejects applications seeking multiple pieces of equipment.
  
  

Applying

• Researchers interested in the NIH's shared equipment grants need to register with the Grants.gov Website in order to apply. See Resources. The NCRR also has specific requirements for organizations, depending on what type of application an organization is filing.