Research Infrastructure Program (formerly the Open or Competitive Capital Program)

Research Infrastructure Program (formerly the Open or Competitive Capital Program) is sponsored by Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC). This program provides grants for capital projects that support the life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts by enabling and supporting life sciences research and development. It funds shared scientific equipment, core facilities, and incubator space.

Research Infrastructure Eligibility Requirements and Evaluation - MLSC Research Infrastructure Eligibility Requirements and Evaluation Applicants must be a Massachusetts legally organized “not-for-profit” entity such as an academic/research institution, a hospital engaged in research, business incubator or accelerator, or other not-for-profit entity that would be eligible for capital funding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Institutions that are exclusively health care providers and/or requests for the purchase of equipment associated with standard healthcare would not be eligible for capital funding.

Eligible applicants must meet the following criteria: Applicants must be requesting funding for life sciences “infrastructure” defined as: “advanced and applied sciences that expand the understanding of human physiology and have the potential to lead to medical advances or therapeutic applications” according to the Massachusetts General Laws (MGL), chapter 23I, section 2. Each award is anticipated to provide $1.

5 – $5 million in funds to the eligible applicant. The MLSC expects to invest up to $10 million through this Research Infrastructure Program. The MLSC envisions that recipients under the Program will receive a grant that leverages additional funds that have been identified and raised for the proposed project.

Applicants that have succeeded in attracting significant additional funds will benefit during the review process. Applicants will have to demonstrate how the requested infrastructure will benefit the entire life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts.

Sample Project Attributes: Highlight the potential to enable scientific advances Need for equipment is critical to not only the institution, but also the MA ecosystem Feasibility of accomplishing the proposed project is evidenced by the team’s capabilities Advantageous benefit of continued usage beyond the project scope to the institution, its stakeholders, and others in MA- applicants will be asked to provide letters describing projects that would take advantage of funded infrastructure by outside groups Allowable costs for MLSC funds: equipment, research supplies and reagents, purchase of hardware and software, and data generated via core facilities.

Non-fundable expenses include: direct labor, legal expenses, travel, paying off debt, paying board members, paying for operating costs such as rent and utilities, renting space for storage of memory or hard drives, monthly cloud storage fees, other monthly subscription fees, overhead/indirect costs and activities funded by other funding sources.

Following execution of the grant agreement, funds will be provided on a reimbursement basis to the Awardees. The number and amount of awards will be determined by the quality of the proposals. The Center reserves the right to adjust the requested amount of funding for each proposal.

Post-award Deliverables, Confidentiality, and General Conditions Olaris is a precision diagnostics company that is on a mission to revolutionize how diseases are diagnosed and treated.

By leveraging their CEREBRO platform (Comprehensive Early Responsive Evaluation of Biomarkers Related to Outcomes), which combines metabolomics and machine learning, they are able to harness the power of the body’s own communication system to discover and develop their pipeline of myOLARIS precision diagnostics.