nsf day biological sciences directorate. vision inspiring research and education at the frontiers of...
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NSF DayBiological Sciences Directorate
Vision
Inspiring research and education at the frontiers of the life sciences
Biological Sciences Directorate
Mission
To enable the discoveries for understanding life
BIO Support for Basic Research
NSF 67%
Other federal spending 33%
NSF 62%
Other federal spending 38%
Federal Support for Basic Research in Non-Medical Biological Sciences
at Academic Institutions
Federal Support for Basic Research in Environmental Biology at
Academic Institutions
Effective April, 2008
Division of Environmental Biology
(DEB)
Division of Environmental Biology
(DEB)
Ecological BiologyEcological Biology
Ecosystem ScienceEcosystem Science
Division of Integrative Organismal
Systems(IOS)
Division of Integrative Organismal
Systems(IOS)
Research ResourcesResearch Resources
Human ResourcesHuman Resources
Division ofBiological Infrastructure
(DBI)
Division ofBiological Infrastructure
(DBI)
Division of Molecular and Cellular
Biosciences(MCB)
Division of Molecular and Cellular
Biosciences(MCB)
Biomolecular SystemsBiomolecular Systems
Cellular SystemsCellular Systems
Genes and Genome Systems
Genes and Genome Systems
Emerging Frontiers (EF)
Plant Genome ResearchProgram
Plant Genome ResearchProgram
Population and EvolutionaryProcesses
Population and EvolutionaryProcesses
Systematic Biology and Biodiversity Inventories
Systematic Biology and Biodiversity Inventories
Behavioral SystemsBehavioral Systems
Developmental SystemsDevelopmental Systems
Neural SystemsNeural Systems
Physiological and StructuralSystems
Physiological and StructuralSystems
Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO)
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)
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
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
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
Recent Funding History of NSF BIO DirectorateFY 2001-2009
$300
$350
$400
$450
$500
$550
$600
$650
$700
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Fiscal Years
Fu
nd
ing
Lev
el (
in m
illio
ns)
Actual Funding Funding in 2001 Constant Dollars
Realities:
2008 Estimate
2009 Request
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
Life in Transition
Biology is the narrative of life on Earth and the story of the unexpected…
Origins: How, where and when did life on Earth begin?
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
Open system chemistry
Self-sustaining biochemistry
Basic elements
DNA WorldRNA World
H2 + CO2 => [ HCO ]n
Self-replication
Ancestry of LifeHorizontal Gene Transfer
What we thought we knew: Genetic information flowedfrom 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
Synthetic BiologyWhat are the indispensable requirements for life?
?
What are:•The physical rules for cell membrane assembly?
•The minimum gene set required to sustain life?
•The fundamental requirements for genome stability?
Membrane Encapsulation
Genome Stability
Are There Alternative Routes to Life?
Microfluidic System RNA Evolution
Brian Paegel and Gerald Joyce Scripps Research Inst.
Chloroplasts
How is energy obtained and used by living systems to sustain life?
Understanding natural energy transduction systems will inspire the development of biology-based technologies capable of delivering sustainable, renewable, efficient energy.
Assemble the basics
PS IAu Ag
-/+
photone-
e-
e-
e-
Applied
Photosynthesis
Barry Bruce (UTN), NSF/EF
Diverse Chemical Sources of Diverse Chemical Sources of Energy for Living Systems:Energy for Living Systems:
Microbial Research to Enhance Our Understanding of Novel Energy Systems
Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Portand State Univ.Everett Schock, Washington Univ. St. Louis
Arsenate (AsO43-)
Iron (Fe3+)Manganese (Mn4+)Nitrate (NO3-)Selenate (SeO4
3-)Sulfate (SO4
2-)Uranyl oxide (UO2
2+)
Adaptation Transformations and Transitions in the Story of Life
Understanding life’s resilience and adaptation will reduce uncertainty about the future of life on Earth in response to global climate change:
Adaptive Systems TechnologyDynamics of Water Processes
in the EnvironmentNEON
Changes
Diversity
What will survive, and how?
Sensing the Environment
Complex Nervous System
Hydra vulgaris
Platynereis dumerilii
Eurycea lucifuga
Evolving Complexity
Movement
Animal model • The primary source of data and
behavioral phenomena
Mathematical model • Describes hypothetical
relationships between a selected subset of observations
Computational model • Explores the logical
consequences of the hypothetical descriptions
Physical model • Explores the behavioral
consequences of a hypothetical neural property operating in the animal’s natural environment
Adaptive Systems TechnologyAdaptive Systems Technology
Closing the Loop of Theory, Observation, Experimentation, and Technology
Four domains of neuroscience
D. E. Koditschek, ESE Department, University of Pennsylvania
Adaptation: Life in a Time of Adaptation: Life in a Time of Planetary ChangePlanetary Change
… We are only now beginning to explore the biological drivers of climate change.
CO2CH4
GOAL: Support research on the resilience that is conferred by the presence of living organisms in freshwater ecological systems.
Dynamics of Water Processes in the Environment
NEONBiosphere, Geosphere, Atmosphere
• 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
Why NEON ?
Transdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary
Multi-disciplinary
Disciplinary
Life Sciences In TransitionThe Role of Theory in Advancing 21st-
Century Biology
Catalyzing Transformative Research
National Research Council of the National Academies
2008
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)
“Plant Biology Jets Into Cyberspace”- Science Magazine
“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 PennisiScience Magazine (2008)
iPlant Collaborative A Look into the Future
• 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.
Centers for Environmental Implications of Centers for Environmental Implications of
Nanotechnology Nanotechnology
National Institute for Mathematical and National Institute for Mathematical and Biological SynthesisBiological 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.
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
Summary Points