Designing Synthetic Cells Beyond the Bounds of Evolution (NSF)

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/fgc.31452
• Published date: 17 December 2020
• Date: 17 December 2020

Federal Grants & Contracts ■ December 17, 2020 Page 3

© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved • DOI: 10.1002/fgc

Grants alert (cont.)

Deadline: April 15, 2021.

Funds: $7 million total for up to 16 awards ranging from

$300,000 to $1.2 million. The maximum project period is

four years.

Eligibility: Colleges and universities.

Areas: NSF said there are three specic ”Threads“

outlined: Thread 1 proposals, Research Capacity-Building

Planning Projects, will focus on capacity building

and research planning; and Thread 2 and Thread 3

proposals, Demonstration Projects and Research

Partnerships Enhancement Projects, respectively, will

focus on building integrated and sustained partnerships

within a single MSI or across multiple MSIs, or with

other research-intensive organizations.

➜ www.grants.gov; FON# 21-533

Data and research in the era of articial

intelligence and advanced data science (NSF)

Scope: The National Science Foundation seeks

applications for the Smart Health and Biomedical

Research in the Era of Articial Intelligence and

Advanced Data Science announcement to support

the development of transformative high-risk, high-

reward advances in computer and information science,

engineering, mathematics, statistics, and behavioral

and/or cognitive research to address pressing questions

in the biomedical and public health communities.

Deadline: Feb. 16, 2021.

Funds: In FY2021, $20 million for up to 16 awards per

year.

Eligibility: Colleges and universities.

Areas: NSF said the work to be funded must make

fundamental contributions to two or more disciplines,

such as computer or information sciences; engineering;

mathematical sciences; and social, behavioral,

biomedical, cognitive or economic sciences, to improve

fundamental understanding of biomedical and health-

related processes and address a key health problem.

Research teams must include members with appropriate

and demonstrable expertise in the major areas involved

in the work.

➜ www.grants.gov; FON# 21-530

Reproducible Cells and Organoids via Directed-

Dierentiation Encoding (NSF)

Scope: The National Science Foundation seeks

applications for the Reproducible Cells and Organoids

via Directed-Differentiation Encoding announcement to

clarify mechanisms of, and develop strategies to direct,

the differentiation of undifferentiated cells into mature,

functional cells or organoids.

Deadline: Preliminary proposals, Feb. 18, 2021; full

proposals, May 18, 2021.

Funds: $10.6 million total for up to seven awards.

Eligibility: Colleges and universities and nonprot

organizations.

Areas: NSF said funding supports projects that address

several aspects of the directed differentiation process

from a Design-Build-Test-Learn perspective. It is

expected that such projects will leverage the expertise

and tools relevant to multiple facets of molecular

sensing, signal cascades and regulations, synthetic

biology, multiscale modeling, and tissue or organoid

formation. Achieving directed differentiation must be

the primary goal of the proposed project. Additional

appropriate objectives could include, for example,

understanding the dynamics, sensing and control at the

reactor to molecular level, developing unique synthetic

biology approaches and addressing a social or ethical

issue pertinent to designer organoids and cells.

➜ www.grants.gov; FON# 21-532

Designing Synthetic Cells Beyond the Bounds

of Evolution (NSF)

Scope: The National Science Foundation seeks

applications for the Designing Synthetic Cells Beyond

the Bounds of Evolution announcement to support

research that develops cell-like systems.

Deadline: Feb. 16, 2021.

Funds: $10 million total for seven to 12 awards.

Eligibility: Unrestricted.

Areas: NSF said research must address one of the

following themes: identifying the minimal requirements

for the processes of life, designing synthetically modied

cells to address fundamental questions in the evolution

of life or to explore biological diversity beyond that which

currently exists in nature and leveraging basic research

in cell design to build novel synthetic cell-like systems

and cells for innovative biotechnology applications.

➜ www.grants.gov; FON# 21-531

Understanding the Rules of Life: Microbiome

Interactions and Mechanisms (NSF)

Scope: The National Science Foundation seeks

applications for the Understanding the Rules of

Life: Microbiome Interactions and Mechanisms

announcement for integrated, interdisciplinary proposals

that create new knowledge in multiple disciplines to

develop causal frameworks with well-designed scientic

and/or computational approaches to test hypotheses

about the relationships within the microbiome, and

among the microbiome, the host and the environment.

Deadline: Feb. 23, 2021.

Funds: $15 million total for up to eight awards.

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