What Kind of Information Should I Include in My Application’s Resource Authentication Plan?

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The authentication plan should be provided as a separate attachment (Item 15 in the Research Plan). The plan should be brief (no more than one page is suggested), and it should include a description of the methods proposed to authenticate key biological and/or chemical resources prior to use and at regular intervals, if appropriate. Key resources and the methods for authentication will vary by research field.

For example, applicants proposing to use cell lines should describe the method they plan to use to verify the identity and purity of the lines, which might include short tandem repeat (STR) profiling and mycoplasma testing. Applicants proposing to use chemicals that are key to the research should describe the method used to validate the chemical, which might include liquid or gas chromatography or mass spectrometry. When published consensus standards exist, these may be cited in this section as the procedure(s) that will be used for validation.

Authentication data itself should not be included in the plan.

Learn more about rigor and transparency in your application from the grants.nih.gov page on rigor and reproducibility, and related resources, including more answers to frequently asked questions.

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