Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Missouri System's Office of Research Administration was awarded $124,978.00 under the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) on July 15, 2026, for the acquisition and deployment of a Nicoya OpenSPR-XT Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) instrument at the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. This instrumentation grant, awarded through the NIH Instrumentation for Resource-Limited Institutions (RLI-S10) mechanism, will enable real-time, label-free analysis of molecular binding affinity and kinetics for research and educational purposes. The OpenSPR-XT represents the institution's first benchtop SPR platform capability on campus and will serve as a resource-sharing instrument for multiple research groups across biochemistry, chemistry, and biology disciplines.

The instrument will support both research and academic training objectives through integration into upper-level undergraduate and graduate laboratory courses, enhancing student competency in molecular interaction analysis and data interpretation. Principal investigators and faculty across the institution will utilize the system for a variety of basic biomedical research applications requiring direct measurement of binding kinetics and molecular interactions. The user-friendly platform design eliminates the need for dedicated technician support, facilitating broad adoption across multiple research groups and maximizing return on the research infrastructure investment. The award completion date is July 14, 2027.