Biomedical Technology Development and Dissemination Center (RM1 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 20 104

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 20 104

The Biomedical Technology Development and Dissemination Center (BTDD) opportunity (PAR-20-104) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant program, run through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), that funds national centers focused on advancing and spreading biomedical research technologies. The core idea is to support technology efforts that have already cleared an initial proof-of-concept stage: in other words, the feasibility of the approach should already be established, and the proposed center work should push the technology forward into more robust, broadly usable, and well-supported tools, methods, platforms, or resources for the wider biomedical research community. A key point in the title is "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," meaning applications should not propose clinical trials as part of the funded work.

This program is structured around the concept of a "center" rather than a single stand-alone research project. Successful BTDD Centers are expected to operate as national resources at the leading edge of their fields. That involves two intertwined responsibilities. First, the center must continue developing and refining the technology so it stays innovative, rigorous, and competitive, with clear performance improvements or expanded capabilities. Second, the center must actively disseminate the technology beyond the home institution so that other researchers can realistically adopt and benefit from it. Dissemination is not treated as an add-on; it is a central deliverable. NIGMS expects centers to make their technologies available in a sustainable way, which generally means thinking through long-term access models, user support, documentation, distribution channels, and ongoing maintenance so the community can rely on the resource.

Training and community engagement are emphasized just as strongly as the technical work. BTDD Centers are charged with providing user training, which can include workshops, hands-on courses, online materials, office hours, user support pipelines, and other practical mechanisms that help laboratories with varying levels of expertise successfully use the technology. In addition, centers are expected to disseminate not only the technologies themselves but also experimental results, likely through publications, protocols, validated workflows, benchmarking data, and other forms of evidence that demonstrate performance and appropriate use cases. The expectation is that the center is deeply plugged into the relevant research community, understands adoption barriers, responds to user needs, and can show credible pathways for broad uptake.

In terms of scientific scope, the program is open to projects that address any biomedical research area within the NIGMS mission. NIGMS traditionally supports fundamental and broadly applicable biomedical science, so applicants generally need to align proposed technology development with the kinds of basic, enabling, and generalizable research advances that serve many fields rather than a narrow disease-specific or product-like endpoint. The FOA language encourages investigators to propose projects across that mission space, as long as the work fits the center model and the technology is positioned for national-level impact.

NIH strongly signals that applicants should communicate early with program staff: potential applicants are "strongly encouraged" to contact NIGMS staff at least 16 weeks before the application due date to confirm the fit and appropriateness of the proposed center for the BTDD mechanism. This is important because the BTDD concept implies specific expectations about maturity, readiness for dissemination, and national resource operations, and early feedback can prevent misalignment before significant effort is invested in an application.

Eligibility is broad across the typical NIH landscape and includes many types of domestic organizations and governmental entities, such as public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and various levels of government (state, county, city/township, special districts), as well as federally recognized tribal governments and tribal organizations. The FOA also explicitly lists additional eligible applicant categories, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions, among others.

At the same time, there are clear limits related to foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic (non-U.S.) institutions are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. However, "foreign components" as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement are allowed, which generally means a U.S. applicant may include certain foreign activities or collaborations when they meet NIH policy requirements and are appropriately justified, even though the primary applicant organization must be domestic.

Administrative details provided in the source include that this is a discretionary grant funding instrument in the health activity category, associated with CFDA number 93.859, administered by NIH, with the FOA created on 2020-02-03 and an original closing date listed as 2023-01-26. The award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided source text, so applicants would typically look to NIH budget guidance for the mechanism and to the specific FOA and related notices for any limits or expectations. Overall, the opportunity is aimed at building nationally visible, highly capable technology centers that both advance important biomedical technologies beyond feasibility and make those technologies genuinely accessible, learnable, and sustainable for the broader research community.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Biomedical Technology Development and Dissemination Center (RM1 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.859.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-02-03.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-01-26. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PAR 20 104

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