Small Business Grants (SBIR/STTR Programs)

Small businesses may obtain research support through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. These programs are designed to support innovative research that has the potential for commercialization.

In the SBIR Program, funding is usually provided for up to 6 months and $100,000 total cost for Phase I feasibility studies, and for up to 2 years and $750,000 for Phase II projects.

The STTR Program requires close collaboration between the small business and a partnered research institution. The small business is to conduct at least 40% of the research project, and the single partner institution conducts at least 30% of the work. Funding is usually provided for up to 1 year and $100,000 total cost for Phase I feasibility studies, and for up to 2 years and $750,000 for Phase II projects.

EGRP is interested in supporting research on the following topics through the SBIR and STTR Programs. The topics are included in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Solicitation.

• Tools for assessment of exposures and biomarkers:
  • MicroRNA profiling in epidemiologic studies
  • Detection of mitochondrial DNA alterations for cancer epidemiologic studies
  • Development of methods for measuring biomarkers of human exposure or susceptibility, and of nutritional status, and methods for monitoring changes in biomarkers for use in cancer epidemiologic studies.
  • Development of new or improved devices for quantitative measurement of human exposure to environmental carcinogens for epidemiologic studies.
  • Development of methods to evaluate potential cancer clusters for epidemiologic studies.

• Tools for cancer epidemiology studies:
  • Development of tools to model cancer risks from environmental and occupational agents.
  • Development of software for electronic capture of risk factor data for cancer epidemiologic studies.
  • Build consumer-friendly risk prediction models from epidemiologic data.
  • Development of software for tracking biological specimens for cancer epidemiologic studies.
  • Development of software for electronic identification, screening, and recruitment of participants, especially minorities, into epidemiologic studies.
  • Development of Web-based data collection or applicable bioinformatics tools for cancer epidemiology.
  • Development of software or methods for rapid case ascertainment of cancers.
  • Development of geographic information systems with special visualization techniques for the simultaneous assessment of environmental exposures and health outcomes.
  • Development of tools using publicly available data to identify population-based controls for epidemiologic studies.
  • Development of software for analysis of DNA methylation biomarkers for early detection of prostate or breast cancers with use of specimens from biorepositories.

New in the 2008 Omnibus Solicitation

EGRP also will consider supporting research on topics of interest to other NCI organizational units that are relevant to epidemiological research.

Any research topic falling within the mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) may be submitted under the SBIR/STTR Programs. The topics presented in the Omnibus Solicitation are only starting points for consideration and do not have any particular favorable priority.

Supplements and time extensions are available for awards that are appropriately justified to program staff.

Effective January 2007, NIH changed receipt dates for grant applications. See the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, NOT-OD-07-001, for the new dates.

Program Contact

The EGRP Program Director is Jay Choudhry, M.S., Methods and Technologies Branch.

Examples of Supported Programs

• Geostatistical Software for Health and Exposure Analysis
  Pierre E. Goovaerts, BioMedware, Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Software for Design of Comparative Observational Studies
  Richard Waterman, AnaBus, Inc., Jenkinstown, Pa.