NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The National Human Genome Research Institute plans to support a number of researchers under four grant programs focused on developing transformative technologies and methods that can help to bring the cost of sequencing a mammalian-sized genome down to around $1,000 by around the year 2014.
The “Revolutionary Genome Sequencing Technologies” grant program will support high-risk, high-reward research that aims to develop full-scale sequencing systems or to investigate underlying system components or methods different than those currently being pursued. The grants continue funding for the program, which began in 2004.
Under one program, NHGRI may grant as much as $5 million in fiscal 2009 to between two and seven awardees. Applicants for these funds may seek up to $1.5 million per year for a period of up to five years.
A parallel grant program would give up to $2 million over three years to between two and seven grantees, for direct costs of up to $200,000 per year.
A Small Business Innovation Research Grant from NHGRI will grant between four and six small businesses up to a total of $3.6 million in fiscal 2009 to propose novel technologies to bring down the cost of sequencing. Phase I of this program will give up to $250,000 of total costs per year for up to two years, and Phase II applicants may seek up to $1.5 million total costs per year for up to three years.
A parallel Small Business Technology Transfer program will spend up to $2 million in fiscal 2009 to support between two and five awards to small businesses investigating the development of new sequencing methods. This program will award up to $250,000 total costs per year for up to two years for Phase I programs, and it will support up to $1.5 million in total costs per year for up to three years for Phase II programs.