Each year, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) invests substantial resources in core facilities that provide access to advanced cutting-edge technologies, expert consultation, and other services to scientific investigators. The facilities offer a number of services, ranging from systematic analysis and data processing, using specialized instrumentation, to access and expert advice on experimental design and evaluation needs, such as biostatistics, patient outreach, and clinical regulatory issues. The largest fraction of support for cores comes from the institutes and centers of the NIH, for example, through the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Significant NIH investment is spent on Center Core grants, particularly the NCI Cancer Centers, and the Clinical Translational Sciences Award Program supported by NCATS. The Office of the NIH Director’s Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) also has a substantial investment in animal and biologic resource centers that provide models of human biology and disease for basic to clinical studies to researchers around the world. Many of these centers function like cores, as they provide the following: 1) high-quality, disease-free animals; 2) access to sophisticated technologies and facilities, as well as specialized animals; and 3) expert training by professional staff and consultation services. As an example, the NIH-supported National Primate Research Centers provide facilities, animals, and expertise for investigators who use nonhuman primates for biomedical research, facilitating >1000 individual research projects annually. The DPCPSI investment in core facilities also includes support through its Shared Instrument Grant program to purchase or upgrade expensive, specialized, commercially available instruments or integrated systems. This program promotes cost effectiveness; encourages optimal sharing among investigators, research groups, and departments; and fosters a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. In many settings, the instrument is integrated in a centralized core facility. Through these investments and many other programs not listed, NIH’s annual support for research cores is estimated conservatively at $900 million. Given this large investment, it is critical that both NIH and the research institutions receiving support for these resources identify and implement approaches that enhance core resource efficiencies.
The value and importance of optimal management and achieving highest efficiency—two aspects that strengthen biomedical research and the pace of scientific discoveries—are not always appreciated. To identify core facility efficiencies, NIH recently published the results of a core consolidation experiment that was conducted under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The results indicate that centralization can be successful for those types of cores that are amenable to consolidation. Core consolidation can eliminate redundancy and inefficiency associated with small cores that cannot afford or justify the advanced, high-throughput instrumentation or higher-level experts available in large, consolidated facilities. Many research institutions have multiple core facilities that appear to provide similar or even identical services to user groups. The results of the core consolidation initiative demonstrate that significant increases in core services, use, and annual program income are possible in the majority of settings.
In March 2015, NIH cosponsored a workshop with the Association of Biomolecular Research Facilities (ABRF) to discuss core facility management and strategies. The primary outcome of this workshop was a set of recommendations for the NIH and the research institutions that included moving toward sharing, improving communication and coordination of issues related to NIH-supported core facilities, and developing inventories of core resources. Workshop participants also recommended that institutions each develop a core strategic plan that can facilitate coordination among all core facilities, invest in specialized expertise in financial management, and develop and disseminate models for governance of research core facilities, including transparency in business practices, annual reviews, and recruitment of senior laboratory members.
Recognized as a key challenge is the knowledge of what shared services and technologies, such as those provided by core facilities, are available and where they are located. The discovery of information about core facilities can be exceptionally difficult. This issue of the missing core inventory was also addressed in a recent NIH Extramural Director’s blog, encouraging institutions to evaluate their core facility portfolios, developing inventories of core activities, and indexing their services within and across organizational units. The ABRF members and leadership have discussed the need to develop inventories of their core facilities, both internally and across institutions or within a geographic region.
A common myth among institutions is that the policy of NIH does not allow sharing of core resources. In fact, NIH actively encourages the shared use of core facilities and has policies that allow sharing. These and other policies for cores are published—summarized as frequently asked questions (FAQ)—on the NIH Office of Extramural Research Grants & Funding website. The FAQs were developed with extensive input from NIH staff and the extramural community and cover such topics as the cost of NIH-funded core facilities and general core operating principles. Scientific collaboration to address human health questions has become a hallmark of biomedical research; access to shared resources is critical to accelerate discoveries for progress in scientific research.
Support of NIH for core and research resources has enabled many research institutions to develop sophisticated core facilities. It is important that funded institutions, especially those that are facing challenges of sustained core support and productivity, avoid duplication of shared resources services and identify and implement approaches that enhance their efficiencies. Given the NIH budget constraints, it is important to determine how to support the best science with the available resources. NIH will continue to enlist the help of research institutions to identify and implement approaches to enhance the efficiency of core facilities to amplify scientific discoveries.