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NSF Day Biological Sciences Directorate

NSF Day Biological Sciences Directorate. Biological Sciences Directorate. Vision Inspiring research and education at the frontiers of the life sciences. Mission To enable the discoveries for understanding life. BIO Support for Basic Research.

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NSF Day Biological Sciences Directorate

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  1. NSF Day Biological Sciences Directorate

  2. Biological Sciences Directorate Vision Inspiring research and education at the frontiers of the life sciences Mission To enable the discoveries for understanding life

  3. BIO Support for Basic Research Federal Support for Basic Research in Non-Medical Biological Sciences at Academic Institutions Federal Support for Basic Research in Environmental Biology at Academic Institutions NSF 67% NSF 62% Other federal spending 33% Other federal spending 38%

  4. Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI) Human Resources Biomolecular Systems Ecological Biology Behavioral Systems Ecosystem Science Developmental Systems Research Resources Cellular Systems Plant Genome Research Program Population and EvolutionaryProcesses Neural Systems Genes and Genome Systems Systematic Biology and Biodiversity Inventories Physiological and Structural Systems Emerging Frontiers (EF) Effective April, 2008

  5. Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) • Supports fundamental research on populations, species, communities, and ecosystems. • Biodiversity discovery, phylogenetic systematics • Molecular evolution, life history evolution, natural selection • Ecology, biogeography • Ecosystem services, conservation biology • Global change, biogeochemical cycles • Long Term Ecological Research (LTER)

  6. Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) Supports research on integrative understanding of organisms. • Understand why organisms are structured the way they are and function the way they do. • Innovative systems biology approaches (i.e., combined experimentation, computation, modeling) • New conceptual insights and predictions that are experimentally verified

  7. Molecular & Cellular Biosciences (MCB) Supports fundamental understanding of life processes at the molecular, sub-cellular, and cellular levels. • Technological innovation • Theoretical and computational aspects of molecular and cellular studies • Molecular evolution • Genomic approaches are encouraged in all areas

  8. Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI) • Empowering biological discovery • Support for enabling research activities such as advances in informatics, development of new instrumentation, and improvement of research collections and field stations • Providing the expertise for the future of research through undergraduate research opportunities, early career opportunities to broaden participation and diversity within the biological sciences and improving the computational expertise for future biological researchers

  9. Realities: 2009 Request 2008 Estimate

  10. BIO 2008-2009 Priorities • Life in Transition – Strengthening Core Programs • Origins • Energy • Adaptation • Adaptive Systems Technology • Dynamics of Water Processes in the Environment • NEON • The Life Sciences in Transition • Multidisciplinary Programs • Multidisciplinary Centers • Plant Science Cyberinfrastructure Collaborative • Centers for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology • National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis

  11. Life in Transition Biology is the narrative of life on Earth and the story of the unexpected…

  12. Origins: How, where and when did life on Earth begin? Open system chemistry Self-replication DNA World RNA World • How did the biological complexity of life emerge from pre-biotic chemistry and geochemistry? • Self-contained – The Cell • Self-sustaining - Energy • Self-replicating – RNA, DNA • Evolving - Biodiversity H2 + CO2 => [ HCO ]n Self-sustaining biochemistry Basic elements

  13. Ancestry of Life Horizontal Gene Transfer What we thought we knew: Genetic information flowed from parent to offspring, generation to generation Darwin’s tree of life rooted to a universal common ancestor… Sequencing of whole genomes revealed that genetic information has been transferred horizontally between organisms, some distantly related

  14. Synthetic BiologyWhat are the indispensable requirements for life? Microfluidic System RNA Evolution Membrane Encapsulation Brian Paegel and Gerald Joyce Scripps Research Inst. Are There Alternative Routes to Life? • What are: • The physical rules for cell membrane assembly? • The minimum gene set required to sustain life? • The fundamental requirements for genome stability? ? Genome Stability

  15. How is energy obtained and used by living systems to sustain life? Au PS I Ag Applied Photosynthesis e- e- photon e- Assemble the basics e- Barry Bruce (UTN), NSF/EF -/+ Chloroplasts Understanding natural energy transduction systems will inspire the development of biology-based technologies capable of delivering sustainable, renewable, efficient energy.

  16. Microbial Research to Enhance Our Understanding of Novel Energy Systems Diverse Chemical Sources of Energy for Living Systems: Arsenate (AsO43-) Iron (Fe3+) Manganese (Mn4+) Nitrate (NO3-) Selenate (SeO43-) Sulfate (SO42-) Uranyl oxide (UO22+) Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Portand State Univ. Everett Schock, Washington Univ. St. Louis

  17. Adaptation Transformations and Transitions in the Story of Life What will survive, and how? Diversity Understanding life’s resilience and adaptation will reduce uncertainty about the future of life on Earth in response to global climate change: Adaptive Systems Technology Dynamics of Water Processes in the Environment NEON Changes

  18. Evolving Complexity Sensing the Environment Movement Hydra vulgaris Complex Nervous System Platynereis dumerilii Eurycea lucifuga

  19. Adaptive Systems Technology Closing the Loop of Theory, Observation, Experimentation, and Technology Four domains of neuroscience D. E. Koditschek, ESE Department, University of Pennsylvania

  20. Adaptation: Life in a Time of Planetary Change CH4 CO2 … We are only now beginning to explore the biological drivers of climate change.

  21. Dynamics of Water Processes in the Environment GOAL: Support research on the resilience that is conferred by the presence of living organisms in freshwater ecological systems.

  22. NEON Biosphere, Geosphere, Atmosphere

  23. Why NEON ? • Answering continental-scale questions: e.g. Will changing climate increase or decrease the biological carbon uptake or emission of the US and by how much? • Requires measuring the drivers (climate, biological processes, land use change) and the phenomena (CO2 uptake or emission) over regional to continental scales over long time periods • As well as conducting controlled experiments to understand the mechanisms involved in observed changes • And • Existing infrastructure is neither optimally configured geographically nor operationally standardized to do this

  24. Life Sciences In Transition The Role of Theory in Advancing 21st-Century Biology Catalyzing Transformative Research Transdisciplinary Interdisciplinary Multi-disciplinary Disciplinary National Research Council of the National Academies 2008

  25. Multidisciplinary Programs • Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (BIO, GEO, SBE and USFS) • Interdisciplinary Training for Undergraduates in Biological and Mathematical Sciences (BIO,EHR,MPS) • Ecology of Infectious Disease (BIO, GEO, SBE and NIH)

  26. “Plant Biology Jets Into Cyberspace” - Science Magazine iPlant Collaborative A Look into the Future “Just as Google Earth lets you zoom in on individual buildings from space, researchers may one day be able to toggle between whole-ecosystem views of plants and the molecules that make them up with just a few clicks of the mouse.” -Elizabeth Pennisi Science Magazine (2008)

  27. Centers for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology • Partnership between multiple NSF Directorates and EPA. • Goals: • Support research on the interactions of nanomaterials with organisms, cellular constituents, metabolic networks and living tissues; • Understand environmental exposure and bioaccumulation and their effects on living systems; • Determine the biological impacts of nanomaterials dispersed in the environment.

  28. National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis • Partnership between BIO and MPS (NSF), DHS and USDA to stimulate research at the interface of the mathematical and biological sciences • Goal: To provide mechanisms to foster synthetic, collaborative, cross-disciplinary studies; enable plant and animal infectious disease modeling; and generate knowledge for policy makers, government agencies, and society.

  29. Summary Points For new opportunities look for current information on the web (www.nsf.gov) BIO Program Directors can help you find the most appropriate program(s) Read program solicitations and the new Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide – NSF 07-140

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