Development of Highly Innovative Tools and Technology for Analysis of Single Cells (SBIR) (R43/R44 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PA 20 047

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 20 047

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity titled "Development of Highly Innovative Tools and Technology for Analysis of Single Cells (SBIR) (R43/R44 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" (Funding Opportunity Number: PA 20 047) supports Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects aimed at creating and validating next-generation technologies for single-cell analysis. The central goal is to move beyond incremental improvements and instead push forward genuinely innovative tools that can be commercialized and broadly adopted by the biomedical research community. By enabling researchers to measure and interpret biology at the level of individual cells, these technologies are expected to reveal fine-grained, dynamic differences among cells within the same tissue or system, and to clarify how cells influence one another through intercellular interactions. In practical terms, the NIH is looking for tools that can help researchers better understand complex biological processes in both health and disease, especially in settings where cellular diversity is a key part of the biology.

This FOA is explicitly focused on technology and tool development and validation, not on clinical trials. Applicants are expected to clearly describe the current state of the art and use it as a benchmark for comparison, rather than presenting the new approach in isolation. In other words, proposals should lay out what existing single-cell technologies can and cannot do today, and then show how the proposed platform would be measured against those existing methods. NIH is especially interested in approaches that demonstrate substantial gains in one or more major performance categories. These include improved sensitivity (detecting weaker signals or lower-abundance targets), selectivity (distinguishing true signals from noise or closely related molecular features), spatiotemporal resolution (capturing where and when cellular changes happen), scalability (handling more cells, more samples, or higher throughput with practical effort and cost), multiplexing capability (measuring more analytes or features simultaneously), and non-destructive analysis (profiling cells without destroying them, enabling longitudinal or functional follow-up). The emphasis is on meaningful, demonstrable improvements that would expand what researchers can ask and answer using single-cell methods.

The eligible applicant pool is limited to small business concerns, consistent with the SBIR program. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities, including foreign institutions, are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply. However, foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, may be allowable in certain circumstances, so applicants with international elements would need to review the NIH policy definitions and the FOA details carefully to confirm what is permitted. The announcement also notes that a companion opportunity supporting the related STTR mechanism exists (referenced as PA-xx-XXX in the text), which matters for teams considering a small business plus research institution partnership structure under STTR rather than SBIR.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity offered by NIH within the health-related federal assistance domain, with CFDA/Assistance Listing numbers including 93.113, 93.121, 93.172, 93.242, 93.279, 93.350, 93.859, and 93.867, reflecting that multiple NIH institutes and centers may participate. The FOA was created on 2020-01-07, and the original closing date listed is 2023-01-05. The mechanism is SBIR R43/R44, which typically corresponds to a phased innovation path (Phase I for feasibility and early development, followed by Phase II for further development and validation toward commercialization). While the provided text does not specify an award ceiling or expected number of awards, the overall intent is clear: NIH is using SBIR funding to help small businesses turn cutting-edge single-cell measurement and analysis innovations into robust, validated, and commercially viable products that can be widely deployed to accelerate biomedical discovery.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, environment, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Development of Highly Innovative Tools and Technology for Analysis of Single Cells (SBIR) (R43/R44 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): 93.113, 93.121, 93.172, 93.242, 93.279, 93.350, 93.859, 93.867.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-01-07.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-01-05. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Small businesses.

Apply for PA 20 047

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