Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Michigan's Regents received a $155,178 Project Grant award effective June 1, 2026, through May 31, 2027, from the National Institutes of Health Office of the Director under the Research Infrastructure Programs (CFDA 93.351). The award funds the acquisition of a Pherastar FSX multimode microplate reader to replace aging screening instruments at the Center for Chemical Genomics (CCG), a high-throughput screening core facility serving University of Michigan faculty and external researchers. The new instrument enables the CCG to conduct comprehensive high-throughput screening (HTS) experiments, supporting approximately 20 annual HTS campaigns and 3-5 structural-activity relationship (SAR) campaigns that identify novel drug compounds from chemical libraries exceeding 100,000 samples.

The Pherastar FSX replaces two obsolete instruments—a 17-year-old Perkin Elmer Envision 2104 and a 21-year-old Pherastar—that have reached end-of-life status with terminated manufacturer support. The microplate reader is critical infrastructure supporting approximately 90% of CCG screening experiments and sustains the University of Michigan's early-phase drug discovery pipeline. By leveraging state-of-the-art fluorescence and luminescence detection capabilities, the equipment enables researchers to identify active molecules that serve as in vitro and in vivo research tools and potential pharmaceutical leads, directly supporting both basic research and translational drug discovery initiatives across the institution.