Equipment and Technology Award

The purpose of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center’s Equipment and Technology Award (ETA) is to provide a mechanism for replacing aging, obsolete, or damaged research instrumentation or to acquire new research equipment that represents the latest advances in the field.

Purpose and Overview | Eligibility | Evaluation

Purpose and Overview

Support for development of new technologies beyond equipment purchases will also be considered for funding by this mechanism. The overall aim of the program is to provide the availability of state-of-the-art, multi-user instrumentation and/or technologies necessary to support the research goals of cancer center investigators. Sources of funding for the award include the Hollings Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA138313), fundraising from the LOWVELO bike ride, and other Hollings philanthropy/foundation accounts.

There is no funding limit specified for this award mechanism, however, requests must be suitably justified. Priority will be given to applications that use this ETA mechanism as a match for applications submitted to external agencies (e.g., NIH S10, NSF MRI, foundations, etc.). Institutional matching funds (e.g., departmental, college, provost, etc.) are also highly encouraged.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be Hollings Cancer Center Shared Resource or Hollings Cancer Center developing core directors.
• Applications must provide technologies/resources that support cancer-relevant research.
• Requests for high-speed computer or graphics workstations for molecular modeling, structural biology, or other computer-intensive or high-capacity information management applications are allowed, but ETA funds may not be used to purchase standard desktop computers, laptop computers, or software packages for routine use.
• Applicants may request service contracts or an extended warranty as part of an instrument purchase, but funds may not be used to purchase service contracts for existing equipment.
• Prior to submitting a proposal, applicants are encouraged to consult with Dr. Steven Rosenzweig and/or Dr. Richard Drake to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the institutional need for, and feasibility of, the proposed instrumentation or technology acquisition.
• All principal investigators and co-investigators are encouraged to participate as a registered rider in the annual LOWVELO bike ride event.
• Please contact Renee Steffen (steffenr@musc.edu) in Hollings administration with any questions.

Evaluation

Each application will be assigned to internal and external reviewers having substantial expertise in cancer research and in reviewing equipment and technology development grants.

Review Criteria

The main criteria for reviewing applications are listed below. Definitions for each criterion will likely differ depending on the particular instrumentation or technology. To keep criteria as uniform as possible and scoring consistent between reviewers, here are some suggested guidelines indicating the most important aspects of each criterion:

Impact

• How does the equipment or technology fulfill or advance an important or distinguishing scientific niche?
• Number of investigators that will potentially form the user base.

Innovation

• Likelihood that the equipment or technology requested places Hollings investigators at a significant advantage over investigators at other institutions lacking these capabilities.
• Careful evaluation of the requested equipment or technology compared to similar equipment or technologies in the market.

Approach/Support

• Business plan for cost-neutral usage of equipment or technology.
• Evaluation of letters of support from potential users.