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NC Biotech Center Soliciting Proposals for Institutional Development Grants

By a GenomeWeb staff reporter

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — The North Carolina Biotechnology Center is making available Institutional Development grants of up to $200,000 maximum to universities or nonprofit research institutes toward the cost of research equipment or core facilities.

The Institutional Development Grant program is intended to fund core facilities or equipment that will serve at least six investigators located at Duke, North Carolina State University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with exceptions for some satellite campuses — or at least three investigators at other research institutions in the state.

The biotech center said proposals "will be more competitive" if they show the grant request comes within the context of an institutional initiative; involves "new ideas that may lead to biotechnology breakthroughs;" involves collaboration between academic and industrial scientists; or strengthens regional and statewide biotechnology capabilities.

The deadline for applications is noon (EDT) on Sept. 1. Award winners must match at minimum 25 percent of the capital costs of the facility or equipment for which funding has been requested.

Applicants for IDG grants must submit proposals via the biotech center's online application form. The center cautions that proposals sent by fax, e-mail or hard copy will not be accepted. Details on the format for proposal submissions are available here.

Applicants can seek funding for one or more pieces of equipment costing a minimum $20,000 per item. In addition to equipment, grants are also allowable toward renovation of lab space to support or accommodate new facilities and/or equipment, and toward hardware and/or software needed to run the equipment.

Examples of core facilities recently funded by the biotech center include a tissue mechanics lab, an imaging core facility, a clinical genotyping core laboratory, and a peptide synthesis core.

Lower-cost equipment and supplies for outfitting labs cannot be funded, though specific supplies and equipment for requested instrumentation may be allowable, according to the center.

The biotech center is a nonprofit created by North Carolina's General Assembly in 1981 as the world's first government-sponsored organization dedicated to developing the biotechnology industry by supporting research, business, and education.

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