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