Invited Talk: NSF Opportunities
Grand challenge questions requiring a deeper understanding of biological systems and technologies are as diverse as life itself. Understanding the complexity of living systems and their interactions with human-derived products and processes, ensuring the safe, ethical and equitable access to and co-generation of knowledge and products, requires the sustained development of technologies, sophisticated instrumentation, workflow pipelines and their automation, and advanced computing that are beyond the capabilities found in the laboratories of individual investigators. Broad access to these tools, workflows, processes, and knowledge bases in a facility that is capable of bespoke design and process scale-up, in response to user needs, is essential for addressing grand challenges and translating the knowledge created into applications for the bioeconomy, to meet societal and national needs.
BioFoundries is an infrastructure program from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that is designed to accelerate advances in the biological sciences, chemical biology, biotechnology, and bioengineering via access to modern infrastructure, technology, and capacity. BioFoundries will provide the intellectual, technical, digital, and physical frameworks needed for tight integration of technology innovations and applications with foundational interdisciplinary research and training, by:
- serving as access points for new biological technologies, workflows, processes, automations, and knowledgebases to enable transformative discoveries;
- catalyzing new innovations and transformative discoveries by supporting in-house and external user-initiated research programs that take full advantage of technological and methodological advances;
- continuing to develop novel technologies, workflows, processes, automations, and knowledgebases that are both forward-looking and user-responsive;
- increasing the reproducibility of life science discoveries and data and knowledge sharing capabilities;
- training the next generation of the scientific workforce; and
- facilitating pathways to translation.
The NSF TTP program was developed with several goals in mind:
- To identify and support use-inspired research and translational activities enabling a continuum from foundational research to practice;
- To develop partnerships and collaborations between institutions of higher education and other entities (e.g., industry, state/local/national government agencies, philanthropies, open-source ecosystems, for-benefit, for-profit and non-profit organizations, international organizations, etc.);
- To promote and advance the education and training of students and postdoctoral researchers, encouraging the participation of all Americans in STEM including innovation and entrepreneurship; and
- To identify future customer needs and opportunities and bring these to the forefront in the conduct of use-inspired research and translational activities.
The NSF TTP program offers three tracks that represent different starting points or stages in moving discoveries and innovations from the laboratory to practice:
- NSF TTP-Explore (NSF TTP-E) is a pilot track that is likely to be the first step for researchers seeking to translate their basic research to practice. To be eligible for the NSF TTP-E track, proposers must have an active, eligible, NSF research award (see Eligibility Information for further details). TTP-E is designed to encourage current, eligible NSF awardees to intentionally pursue applications of their research with the potential for societal impact. The NSF TTP-E track provides the opportunity to obtain an extension of the initial award period of a current NSF award for up to two years in order to offer investigators an opportunity to explore adventurous, high-risk, use-inspired research and initial translational activities as the starting point for translation that was not covered by the original research award.
- NSF TTP-Translate (NSF TTP-T) starts with use-inspired research and initial translational activities and further matures the idea(s), iterates and improves the solution(s), and lowers the barrier(s) to effective translation of research from lab to practice.
- NSF TTP-Partner (NSF TTP-P) supports translational efforts that demand one or more partnerships for technology development and deployment. Here, strategic partnerships with stakeholders beyond U.S. institutions of higher education are essential ingredients for success and may include industry partners, government entities at all levels, philanthropies, international organizations, or other groups associated with large scale productization and distribution. The NSF TTP-P track requires an NSF-Catalyzed Partnership with an organization that will assist in the translation to practice. In addition to the Principal Investigator (PI), NSF TTP-P proposals must include a co-PI or Senior/Key Personnel who is a member or employee of the NSF-Catalyzed Partner. Partnerships with U.S. institutions of higher education are valued, but NSF TTP strongly prioritizes NSF-Catalyzed Partnerships that are able to help bring the product, process, or service to the market, potentially through licensing agreements, startup or small business formation, incorporation into an existing open-source ecosystem, development into standards setting arrangements, etc.
