Research and Sponsored Programs

Program Summary

The Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program supports the acquisition or development of multi-user scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training at institutions of higher education and not-for-profit scientific/engineering research organizations. MRI-supported instruments are generally too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs.

MRI provides support to acquire critical research instrumentation and to develop next-generation research instruments that open new opportunities to advance science and engineering research. MRI awards are also expected to enhance research training for students who will become future instrument users, designers, and builders.

Funding Request Amounts and Institutional Limits

An MRI proposal may request up to $4 million from NSF for either acquisition or development of a research instrument. Each performing organization may submit up to four MRI proposals within the track limits below.

Track 1

Greater than $100,000 and less than $1,400,000. Limited exceptions allow requests below $100,000 for eligible mathematics or social, behavioral, and economic sciences instrumentation, or for non-Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education requesting instrumentation in any NSF-supported disciplines. No more than 2 applications

Track 2

Greater than or equal to $1,400,000 and up to and including $4,000,000. No more than 1 application.

Track 3

Greater than or equal to $100,000 and less than or equal to $4,000,000 for purchase, installation, operation, and maintenance of equipment and instrumentation to conserve or reduce helium consumption. No more than 1 application.

Timeline

Internal deadline

Friday, September 4, 2026

NSF deadline

Anticipated Monday, November 16, 2026

Internal Application Materials

For your proposal to be considered for the campus selection process, please send the following as a single PDF attachment to limitedsubmits@utoledo.edu.

• Project title in the format required by NSF MRI guidelines (for example, “MRI: Acquisition of …” or “MRI: Development of …”).
• Cover page that lists the investigators and the MRI Track number.
• Project Summary, maximum 1 page, addressing Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts.
• Project Description, maximum 3 pages, a high-level overview of the project describing the instrument, research and research-training uses, shared-use plan, broader impacts, and how the new or enhanced capability will support teaching, training, or learning.
• If previously submitted to NSF MRI: submit reviewer comments and scores as separate documents, plus one additional page explaining how the resubmission will address reviewer feedback.
• Management Plan, including instrument location, access management, infrastructure and technical expertise for effective use, and plans for operations and maintenance.
• Budget estimate, including the anticipated NSF request and any institutional or partner commitments if applicable.

NIH S15 Small Instrumentation Grants Program

The NIH S15 Small Instrumentation Grants Program (PAR-24-259) supports the purchase and installation of modern equipment that improves the operations of an existing shared-use biomedical research facility, such as a laboratory research core, animal research facility, or similar shared research space. The equipment must provide broad benefit to the institution's biomedical research community and represent a meaningful technological or operational advancement—not simply replacement of aging or broken equipment.

Funding

Applicants may request $50,000–$350,000 in direct costs for a project period of up to one year. Only one application per institution is permitted, making this an institutional limited-submission opportunity. Cost sharing is not required.

Eligible Expenses

Funding is intended for one type of modern equipment used in an operational shared-use facility. Examples include biobanking/cryopreservation equipment, automated freezers, biosafety cabinets, fume hoods, incubators, centrifuges, autoclaves/sterilizers, environmental chambers, bioreactors, lyophilizers, automated sample-preparation or cell-processing equipment, nucleic-acid extraction equipment, peptide/oligonucleotide synthesizers, 3D printers, laboratory water-treatment equipment, and qualifying animal-facility equipment. Multiple units of the same equipment type may be requested when justified.

Importantly, the program does not fund scientific research instruments used to collect experimental data—such as microscopes, spectrometers, sequencers, PCR machines, biomedical imagers, cell analyzers, or chromatography equipment. It also excludes furniture, consumables, personnel, travel, contractual services, routine maintenance, general facility outfitting, building-level infrastructure, and installation costs outside the vendor quote.

Deadlines

Internal Due Date: September 8, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.
External Due Date: September 25, 2026, by 5:00 p.m. No Letter of Intent is required.

What to Submit for Internal Consideration

Faculty interested in being considered for UToledo’s limited submission should email the following materials as a single accessible PDF to LimitedSubmits@UToledo.edu by the internal deadline:

Letter of Intent (1 page maximum)

• Name, academic title;
• Contact information, including telephone number and email address;
• Project Summary - brief overview of instrumentation request and how it fits within the opportunity guidelines, and total budget request.

2027 Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant Program

The Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant Program provides start-up support for new and innovative neuroscience research projects that are likely to lead to future extramural funding. The program prioritizes junior faculty and projects that move investigators into new research directions; awards may not supplement existing grants or provide bridge funding.

Funding

Two years; up to $100,000 in direct costs total ($50,000 per year).

Eligibility

The principal investigator must be a full-time Assistant Professor or Associate Professor at an invited U.S. academic institution and must work in an area involving studies of brain function, including molecular or clinical neuroscience or neural, sensory, motor, cognitive, behavioral, or emotional functioning in health or disease.

Additional Eligibility Requirements

• The proposed work must be a new research project that is not funded by another source and may not be used as bridge funding.
• Assistant Professors proposing a new project that will generate pilot data for an NIH R01 or a comparable external grant receive first priority and must disclose current grants, including abstracts and specific aims, and identify any overlap.
• Associate Professors must pursue and explain a new research direction, disclose current grants, including abstracts and specific aims, and identify any overlap. A new technique alone is not considered a new direction unless it applies to a different area of study.
• Investigators affiliated with a medical school or university may apply only through the institution where they hold a full-time faculty position.
• Only one principal investigator may apply per application, and an investigator may submit no more than one BRF Seed Grant proposal in a funding period.
• Research Assistant Professors, Research Associate Professors, and Full Professors are not eligible.
• A previous BRF Seed Grant recipient may be considered again only if all requirements for prior awards have been completed. An investigator is ineligible if prior BRF funding will overlap the proposed grant period or if required progress and financial reports for a prior BRF award remain outstanding.
• Members of the BRF Scientific Review Committee and relatives of BRF representatives, including committee members as defined by the Foundation, are not eligible.

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: September 9, 2026, at 5:00 pm

External Deadline: Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. Central Time (Letter of Intent)

Limited Submission Restriction

BRF will accept only one Letter of Intent per invited institution. UToledo may nominate one faculty member to submit the institutional Letter of Intent.

What to Submit for Internal Consideration

Faculty interested in being considered for UToledo’s limited submission should email the following materials as a single accessible PDF to limitedsubmits@utoledo.edu by the internal deadline:

1. Letter of Intent

• Name, academic title, department, and full-time faculty status of the principal investigator;
• Contact information, including telephone number and email address;
• Project title;
• Statement confirming the project is new, is not funded by another source, is not bridge funding, and will not overlap with other BRF funding;
• For an Assistant Professor, explanation of how the project will generate pilot data for an NIH R01 or comparable external grant; for an Associate Professor, explanation of how the project represents a new research direction;

2. Brief Project Summary (2 pages maximum)

• Research aims and significance;
• Relevance to the study of brain function and neuroscience;
• Innovation and how the project differs from the principal investigator’s currently funded work;
• Potential to generate pilot data and lead to NIH or other public or private extramural funding;
• Planned next steps and how the research will develop after the seed grant period.

W. M. Keck Foundation Research Program

The W. M. Keck Foundation Research Program supports pioneering, high-risk basic science research that challenges existing paradigms and has the potential to transform fields of study. Projects should pursue fundamental discoveries in the physical, life, or biomedical sciences, including novel technologies, instrumentation, or methodologies that advance basic scientific understanding.

Funding

• Typical awards range from $1.0 million to $1.3 million over three years.
• No indirect costs are permitted; institutions are expected to provide in-kind support through the waiver of facilities and administrative costs.

Eligibility

• Principal Investigators must be tenure-track faculty or equivalent and eligible to serve as PI under institutional policies.
• Proposed projects must focus on high-impact research in the basic physical, life, or biomedical sciences, including instrumentation and engineering approaches that address fundamental scientific questions.
• Projects should be innovative, distinctive, and field-expanding, with the potential to challenge existing paradigms or create new areas of inquiry.
• High-risk, high-reward research is encouraged.
• The program does not support clinical trials, therapies or procedures, drug discovery or delivery, disease biomarker screening, medical devices, user facilities or shared-facility equipment, supplements, renewals, follow-on funding, resubmissions of declined proposals, conferences, or science policy.

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: September 28, 20206 at noon

External Deadline: December 7, 2026

Limited Submission Restriction

UToledo may submit up to three applications per funding cycle (December & June)

What to Submit for Internal Consideration

Faculty interested in being considered for UToledo’s limited submission should email the following materials as a single PDF to limitedsubmits@utoledo.edu by the internal deadline:

1. Letter of Intent

• Name and academic title of PI;
• Contact information: telephone number and email address;
• Project title;
• Brief description of the fundamental scientific question being addressed;
• Explanation of how the proposed research is transformative, challenges a prevailing paradigm, or opens a new area of investigation;
• Identification of key personnel and major collaborators;
• Statement describing why the project is especially well suited for W. M. Keck Foundation support rather than traditional federal funding mechanisms.

2. Brief Project Summary (2 pages maximum)

• Research aims or goals and significance;
• Innovation and transformational potential;
• Knowledge gap to be addressed and expected scientific impact;
• High-risk, high-reward elements of the project;
• Preliminary data or proof-of-concept information, if available;
• Novel technologies, methodologies, or instrumentation to be developed or used;
• Expected outcomes and potential to create new scientific directions or enable discoveries not previously possible.